Shakuton no Naruko
by HeckTheUchiha
Summary: Naruko's training trip has been more successful than anyone anticipated. Returning to Konoha after three and half years away, she'll use her new found abilities to prove that she's more than just a holding cell for an oversized fox.
1. Naruko Returns

**Shakuton no Naruko**

 **Part 1**

* * *

 _Author's Notes:  
This will be yuri, not sure who with. Will probably divert a lot from canon as well.  
Also, she does have the Scorch Release but it's not a Kekkei Genkai, that'll be explained later._

 _It will NOT be a harem fic. Got nothing against, don't like them personally._

* * *

They hadn't known what to expect upon Naruko's return. It was safe to assume that she would be stronger, under the tutelage of the strongest Sannin it was bound to happen. The bar was set somewhat low, she'd only known a few jutsu and had been the dead last in the Academy. Though they had to admit she was stronger than she looked, if only the defeats of both Neji and Sabaku no Gaara were taken into account, both on the same day no less. All that they did know, from what Sakura could get out of Tsunade and Kakashi, is that Jiraiya had discovered that Naruko possessed a talent for Fuuinjutsu and kenjutsu, along with a Kekkei Genkai, the Shakuton of all things.

Still it would be a surprise when they laid eyes on her . First of all her wardrobe had improved considerably. Her once short hair had grown to her mid back and two locks of hair framed her face. Not only that but her hair had been somehow tamed and was straight now. She'd thankfully switched out her bright 'kill me' orange jumpsuit for a vermillion high neck, sleeveless dress. It hugged her body somewhat, reaching down to her ankles with a slit on the right side of the skirt from the thigh down, exposing her entire leg if not for the black hot pants she wore underneath as well as fishnet pantyhose under that. Her standard shinobi sandals had been exchanged for black knee high, chunky high heeled shinobi sandals and her Hitai-ate had been moved to her right bicep. She also wore black fingerless gloves with the index finger and thumb completely uncovered. On her left at her waist was a katana in a black sheath, in the small of her back was a fuuinjutsu scroll and on her right hip was a weapons pouch. She'd also taken to wearing winged eyeliner in the same vermillion as her dress, and the same coloured lipstick and wore black nail polish on her toes and fingers. Her bright blue eyes and whisker marks were exactly the same as they remembered and the wore the Shodai's necklace around her neck.

She entered the main gate of Konoha and immediately scaled a building and looked over the village with a smile. It was just as she remembered, a few new building here and there and Tsunade's face had been added to the mountain but still the same.

"Come on, gaki! We gotta go see Tsunade!" Jiraiya called up to her.

* * *

Tsunade was startled when she heard a knock on her window. Turning she found Jiraiya crouched outside, waving at her with a dumb grin on his face. Quickly walking over she opened it and stepped aside to let Jiraiya entered, who was closely followed by Naruko. Tsunade immediately enveloped her in a tight hug. "Damn, gaki, I barely recognised you." Tsunade said as she pulled back from the hug to look at Naruko properly.

Naruko smiled brightly. "Looking better than ever, eh?" She said boastfully as she walked back from Tsunade and cocked her hips, were right hand resting on her hip as well.

"Oh yeah, definitely. The makeup's a nice touch. Come on, let's sit. Tell me about the journey. And since, _someone_ , didn't send in enough reports tell me about your training as well."

Naruko started with how they'd headed around just about the entire continent, gathering information from Jiraiya's many contacts while intruding her to each of them so she'd be able to use Jiraiya's network for herself. They'd started to try and work on harnessing the Kyuubi's chakra but after Jiraiya had nearly been killed by a rabid Naruko they decided to leave the fox be, hardening the seal over a week long process. However, in that time they discovered she'd received somewhat of a gift from the Kyuubi, the Shakuton, or Scorch Release.

The Shakuton was an elemental chakra combination, like the Hyōton was created with a combination of Futon and Suiton, the Shakuton was created by mixing Futon and Katon. It was common knowledge that wind techniques made fire techniques much more powerful when used in conjuncture, however the Scorch release took this to a new level. Shakuton chakra could be used to create fire so hot it could be used to mummify people, as it caused the water in their body to evaporate. Jiraiya had decided that it was dangerous to go straight into exploring uses for the Shakuton and proceeded to focus training on Futon and Katon separately, which would help in controlling the Shakuton later on. In that time, he'd also taught her the secret of Kage Bunshin, and had a dozen of her clones train in fuuinjutsu for hours at a time as well as rounding out other ninjutsu such as Jiraiya's own technique the Ranjishigami no Jutsu ( _Lion's Mane Technique_ ). She'd also eventually learnt to use the Rasengan in one hand.

While her clones worked on all of that with a few of Jiraiya's clones supervising, the real Naruko and Jiraiya worked on her taijutsu and newfound ability in kenjutsu. Once Jiraiya had deemed her ready, after two years of non-stop travelling and training, to begin on the use of the Shakuton. It was difficult, seeing as neither really knew anything about the Shakuton, other than the very basics but eventually they begun making headway, however due to the Elemental natures fundamental power, all of the jutsu they managed to come up with weren't lower then B-ranked. It was during that year the Jiraiya requested some missions for Naruko to begin getting more real world experience.

After some bandit eradication, missing-nin hunting and assassinations, they'd helped squash a small uprising and Haru no Kuni. After that they'd been tracked down by Kirigakure-nin who asked for Sannin no Jiraiya's student to meet with the Mizukage. After some confrontation, a small fight and someone almost being crushed by a toad, they'd met Terumi Mei. It turned out that word of her mission to Nami back when she'd just graduated had made its way to Kiri. The Mizukage very politely asked for the location of the Kubikiribōchō, or if it were in her possession if she'd hand it over to Kiri.

 **-Flashback-**

Naruko's eyes narrowed as she surveyed the Mizukage, trying to find any ill-intention. The woman, Mei, had two Black Ops guards on either side of her and two more were behind Naruko and Jiraiya. They were in a small house in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Mizu no Kuni.

"Well? Will you give the blade to us?" Mei asked, some impatience appearing on her face.

"Why should I? That sword belonged to Zabuza." Naruko answered.

"Actually it belongs to Kirigakure. Zabuza took it with him after he was forced to flee Kiri." Mei retorted.

"Sure, whatever. When I had it, it was Zabuza's, not Kiri's. Why should I give it to you?"

"Do you know why Zabuza was forced from Kiri?" Naruko shook her head. "He attempted to overthrow the Sandaime Mizukage. He became a mercenary to help fund my rebellion, which in turn won the civil war. Unfortunately you met Zabuza in Nami before we did win."

Naruko starred into her eyes for about a minute. "Say I believe you. What would you do with it?"

"We would find someone worthy to wield it. The Kubikiribōchō would keep Kiri safe again." Mei answered passionately.

Naruko starred into her eyes for some time, trying to decipher if she was being lied to. In the end, she went with her gut."Fine. It's marking Zabuza's grave, in the middle of the forest about thirty minutes southwest of Nami Village." She then gave a cocky smile. "I hope you'll remember this when I'm the Hokage."

Mei smiled in return. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

 **-Flashback End-**

"Only you could earn a favour from a Kage by giving them something that belongs to them." Tsunade said fondly, with a chuckle.

Naruko smiled brightly in return. "And after that we made our way back to Konoha, and here we are. So, what's been happening here, Baa-chan?"

Tsunade sighed. "I'm never getting out of that nickname am I? Same old really. Missions, political bullshit, so on and so forth. Though your old teammate Sakura became my apprentice while you and the Toad were off gallivanting across the Yōso Kuni ( _Elemental Nations)_."

"Woah, really? She must be pretty strong now too, huh?"

"Oh yeah. She's begun to reach her potential. So, now that your back, I'd like to see if all that time away has done you any good. Head to Training Ground 7 at 10 tomorrow morning. Til' then you're of duty, ok?" Tsunade finished by ruffling Naruko's hair, making it almost as messy as it used to be. Naruko sent a half-hearted glare at her before forming a seal and her hair straightened out. She stuck her tongue out at Tsunade as she jumped out of the window.

Tsunade's eyebrows rose and she looked at Jiraiya. He just shrugged. "It's the only way she can straighten her hair. It's a basic version of my Ranjishigami no Jutsu."

"Of course it is." She responded with an eye roll and a affectionate smile. So, how is she going? So how did the training go?"

"Hm. I'll put it this way, when she reaches her peak she'll make Minato look like a wet-behind the ears genin, fresh out of the Academy."

 **End Part 1**


	2. Proving

**Part 2**

* * *

 _There will be some jutsu that I make up myself, however as I don't speak Japanese I'm relying on Google Translate. If you see a technique name that makes no sense please tell me, and what to rename it to. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy. Reviews are 100% welcome but please be kind. Naruko pairing will be yuri but I haven't decided with who. There may be some other pairings in the background as well, let me know if you'd like to see anything in particular and I'll consider it. There may also be lemons later, at least limes, we'll see._

* * *

"Naruko!?"

The girl in question turned to find a familiar pink haired girl jogging over to her. "Sakura? Hey, how are ya!?"

"I'm uh..." she trailed off as she finally got a good look at Naruko's new appearance. "...good. You're looking... different."

Naruko smirked and cocked her hip and placed a hand on it. "Mm hm. You like?"

"I... uh yeah. It's certainly an improvement."

"Thanks." She replied with a wink and a smile. "You aren't looking half bad yourself. Wanna join me for a bowl at Ichiraku?"

Smiling and rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Sakura answered "Sure. Let's go."

* * *

"So, you know who I'm fighting?" Naruko asked Sakura. After they'd met in the street and caught up Naruko had spent the rest of the day organising her apartment and restocking on gear, clothes and food. Now Sakura was heading to Training Ground 7 with Naruko to see her test.

"I'm not sure. I know that it'll be a jonin." Sakura answered.

"Hm. Guess we'll see." Naruko replied as they entered the training field.

Entering the field they found Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi and a woman Naruko vaguely recalled as being called Yugao who wore standard jonin gear and a ninjato on her back.

"Hey you two." Jiraiya greeted.

"Yo." Kakashi said with an eye smile and a wave.

"Ok, Naruko you ready?" After the blonde nodded she continued. "Alright, based on what I've heard I'm going to have you spar with Kakashi and Yugao here at the same time. You up for it?"

Naruko smirked confidently. "Do you really have to ask, Baa-chan?"

"Alright then. Get ready."

Naruko slid into a basic taijutsu stance, ready to draw her sword or cast a ninjutsu. Surprisingly, Kakashi put away his book and stood at the ready as did Yugao.

"Hajime!" Tsunade called.

With a familiar handsign two clones appeared beside Naruko. One ran at Kakashi and the other at Yugao. Kakashi and the clone met with taijutsu, Kakashi dodging her sword rather than countering and Yugao and the other clone began a kenjutsu duel. The real Naruko stood back and watched before putting her hand in her weapon pouch but didn't draw anything. Both clones popped at the same time and both jonin ran straight for Naruko who dodged both by a hair and threw down a smoke bomb. Before either jonin could locate her they heard her shout.

"Doton: Tajū Doryūheki!" Four walls of stone rose up to trap them. They then noticed that the walls were covered in sealing tags. They barely managed to jump out before an explosion rocked the field.

"Just so you know, if this was real, there would've been a roof too." Naruko said with her hand on her hip, hips cocked.

"Thanks for being so considerate then." Yugao said with a slight deadpan.

"No problem." Suddenly Naruko launched herself at them, forming a Rasengan in each hand. The jonin jumped to either side as another explosion rocked the field.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu!" Kakashi called.

Naruko turned to see a large fireball flying at her. Swiftly pulling out a scroll and unravelled it, it showed an intricate seal. The fireball then abruptly began streaming into the seal until it had disappeared completely. The seal then glowed blue and the fireball reappeared, heading straight back at Kakashi, taking the Cyclopes by surprise, though he managed to dodge it.

As Naruko threw the scroll aside, she barely dodged a sword attack from Yugao. Quickly unsheathing her katana, Naruko counter-attacked. They exchanged blows, with a number of close calls, when Kakashi joined wielding two kunai. Naruko reacted by ducking underneath Yugao's sword and kicking Kakashi centre mass, creating a window in which she placed a tag on Yugao and then spun and did the same to Kakashi before jumping away. Before they had a chance to react the seals activated and a huge rope appeared, coming out of each seal which rapidly retracted, pulling the jonin together. They slammed into each other and heard; "Futon: Shinkūken! ( _Wind Style: Vacuum Sword_ )". A horizontal twister was sent at the jonin, sending them spiralling toward the trees and giving them shallow cuts, she'd put only just enough chakra into it to cut them, a bit more and they'd be seriously injured maybe dead. Both of them used a Kawarimi to escape just before the rope smashed into the trees.

They both came at Naruko again, Kakashi using one kunai and taijutsu and Yugao using kenjutsu. Before Naruko could do anything in particular, Kakashi got a kick onto her leg and Yugao disarmed her, sending her katana flying away. Using a quick shunshin, she created a few metres of space which allowed her to react to their next attack. "Ranjishigami no Jutsu!" Each strand of hair became hard as steel wire and grew incredibly fast. It separated into two locks, one blocked a sword strike and the other slammed into Kakashi's stomach. Each massive lock of hair broke apart into many tendrils, tying up both jonin, making a point of tying up their fingers so they couldn't form seals.

"Shakuton: Shūkai suru taiyō!" ( _Scorch Release: Orbiting Suns!_ ) Four glowing yellow balls of flame that resembled miniature suns began to lazily circle around Naruko who's arms were spread as far as they'd go. She gave a cocky smile. "Give up?"

Kakashi eye smiled. "Yes. I forfeit."

"As do I." Yugao stated.

"Winner Naruko!" Tsunade exclaimed.

There was some clapping and Naruko turned to find her audience applauding, however some people had joined said audience. Namely, Iruka and Team 10. She gave a shit-eating grin as her hair returned to its normal form and receded, and the miniature suns dissipated, the air becoming noticeably warmer but it would cool in a few minutes. Naruko turned to give a bow and sent a clone to get her sword as she walked back to the others, Kakashi and Yugao following. "Hey guys!" She said cheerfully as she walked over to them. "So when did you guys show up?"

Iruka answered first. "I was a bit late unfortunately, but I got here just as the earth wall exploded. Quite spectacularly I might add." He finished with a warm smile.

"We stumbled across the fight just when the rope tags pulled those two together. Very good combo." Asuma answered as his team nodded.

"Naruko! Come over here." Tsunade called.

"Be right back." Naruko said before she made her way over to Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune and the two jonin she'd just fought. "So, what's up, Baa-chan?"

"You did very well in the spar, gaki. Based off of that, as well as my review of your performance back in the Oto Invasion and your performance on missions with Jiraiya, I'm promoting you to Chuunin. Congratulations." Tsunade finished with a smile as she threw a scroll to Naruko, who caught it. "In there is your Chuunin vest as well as a list of all of your new privileges. For now you're off duty."

Naruko smiled brightly as she clutched the scroll to her chest. "Thanks, Baa-chan!"

"Don't worry about it, gaki. You've earned it." Naruko began to turn to leave, Tsunade stopped her and said. "Come around to my office later tonight, about nine. Jiraiya and I need to talk to you about something." Naruko gave her a questioning look but just nodded, she'd find out later that night.

"So, you're going to tell her?" Kakashi asked with what they knew was a forced monotone.

"She's made chuunin. It's time." Jiraiya answered somewhat solemnly. Kakashi just nodded and Yugao allowed a small questioning expression onto her face but a few years in ANBU taught her when to keep quiet.

Naruko headed back over to Team 10, who were talking to Iruka. They turned to her as she walked back over to them with a smile on her face.

* * *

 **End Part 2**


	3. Heritage

**Part 3**

* * *

After another filling trip to Ichiraku, Naruko left a suddenly financially deprived Iruka and headed toward the Hokage Tower. She really hoped this wouldn't take too long, she'd been out all day either sparring, socialising or running errands, getting her village life back in order. It was nice, being back home and seeing everyone again but she missed her bed, especially since she'd replaced the old lumpy mattress earlier that day. She'd changed out of her kunoichi clothing and, instead opting to wear a comfortable tank top and shorts, with her hair tied into a high ponytail but left the two locks of hair framing her face down.

Turning onto the main road, the only road that went from one end of the village to the other, the Hokage Tower came into view. She made her way inside, walking past mission halls where briefings took place and sealed doorways, to where she didn't know. Even after all the times she'd been in the Tower when the Sandaime was in power she only really knew the open hallways and the floor dedicated to the Hokage's office. Despite its lack of high defensive walls or large amount of guards, the Tower was one of the most heavily guarded buildings in the world. Despite popular belief, the ANBU didn't just melt into the shadows and stand watching. There were genjutsu seals placed on the ceiling hiding rafters and making the ceilings appear lower than they were. In fact, she'd been up on the rafters a few times when playing pranks as a child after she'd figured out the genjutsu was there. So every time she entered a new hallway she'd wave up at the ceiling, seemingly at nothing, only for a gloved hand to occasionally appear for a split second and wave back. She'd always liked the ANBU as a child, despite their cold exterior they were the only group that didn't seem to hate her like the rest of the village. Jiraiya explained to her that it was likely because basic fuuinjutsu training was mandatory for all ANBU Trainees, as such they understood the difference between the scroll and the kunai. It was a shame fuuinjutsu was such a complex and obscure art. It was widely acknowledged as one of the most powerful ninja tools that didn't require any prerequisites, like a bloodline, however the dedication and years of study turned many off. Fortunately for Naruko she seemed to have an inborn talent for the art, though she wasn't sure why, it was a very academic ability, whereas she was more of a practical person.

Eventually she walked up the final staircase and entered the Hokage's reception area. It was a fairly large rectangular room, at one of the long ends was the entrance to reception that she'd just entered through and the other to the Hokage's office at the far end. There were tables and chairs against the walls for visitors to sit in while waiting for the Hokage to call on them. This was the only room in the tower she knew of where ANBU guards were standing out in the open, one in each corner of the room. They all wore large cloaks so she could only see their masks. The only thing you could glean was their height and she'd seen some ANBU where heeled sandals, as it gave them more autonomy, so if they needed to go out of uniform on a mission it made it far less likely to be identified. The ceiling in reception was also higher than the rest of the tower, however the same genjutsu defence was in place, at least four operatives would be up there was well. She also knew of a few hidden seals around the room but she didn't know what they did, nor would the ANBU be too enthusiastic if she tried to examine them.

She walked up to the desk, the receptionist looked up and nodded then jerked her head towards the door. The same woman had been the Sandaime's receptionist and based on the kunai Naruko knew was strapped to the bottom of her chair she'd wager that 'Hokage's Receptionist' wasn't all she was.

Normally, Naruko would just enter through the window like Jiraiya however, he'd told her that wasn't a good idea after the sun went down unless she wanted an ANBU squad breathing down her neck. Knocking on the door she heard Tsunade call 'Enter!' and went inside. She found Tsunade sitting behind her desk, a bottle of sake held loosely in her hand and Jiraiya leaning against the wall fiddling with some kind of weirdly shaped kunai.

"Hey, Baa-chan, Ero-sennin, what's up?" Naruko asked.

"Hey, gaki. Take a seat. You'll want to sit for this." Tsunade responded.

Naruko nodded and sent Jiraiya a questioning look, he just lightly shook his head and nodded toward Tsunade. "So, what's going on?"

Tsunade sighed and placed her sake bottle onto the desk. Resting her elbows on the desk, she intertwined her fingers and finally made eye contact with Naruko. "Since you've been promoted to chuunin, as per their request, we will tell you about your parents."

Instantly Naruko stiffened, her relaxed posture disappearing as she sat up in her chair. She'd never managed to get anything out of the Old Man, the Sandaime only telling her he'd tell her when she was older, and all she'd gotten out of Jiraiya is that her mother's kenjutsu skills seemed to have been passed down to her as well as her father's calm demeanour, though apparently she'd been a lot more like her mother when she was younger in that she was quick to anger.

Seeing that Naruko wasn't going to say anything, Tsunade sighed again and pulled a file out of her desk and placed it in front of Naruko. The girl wordlessly picked it up, at the top it said, ' _Uzumaki Kushina_ '. Opening it, she came face to face with a picture of a beautiful woman with bright red hair in the same style as Naruko when she had it down, but a lot longer. She had a round face and light purple eyes. She was wearing a black hoodie with the red spiral pattern on the front that was on the flak jackets and a long black skirt with a rose pattern and white casual shoes. She was sat on bench underneath a large frangipani tree with one hand on her slightly swollen belly and another held up, giving a peace sign to the camera.

Naruko pulled the photo up to find another underneath of a younger Kushina wearing standard jonin gear, sitting underneath the same frangipani tree, though it was smaller than in the other picture. It seemed she didn't know that the photographer was there as she sat tending to a nodachi with a whetstone. Her hair was done up in a high ponytail with two locks framing her face and a Konoha Hitai-ate around her forehead. Pulling that photo up as well she found a standard shinobi profile that read:

 _Uzumaki Kushina - A-rank  
Konohagakure no Sato Elite Jonin, Ex-ANBU, Uzumaki Clan Matriarch, 'Reddotaig_ _ā_ _no Kushina' (_ Kushina the Red Tiger _)  
Notable Skills - 0-5 Scale:  
Fuuinjutsu: 4  
Kenjutsu: 5  
Taijutsu: 4.5  
Ninjutsu: 4  
Elemental Ninjutsu, (Suiton): 5  
Genjutsu: 2  
Shurikenjutsu: 3.5  
Chakra Chain Jutsu, possible bloodline trait: 5_

There were a few more pages, with bank details and old mission reports.  
It was the last line on her personal details page, which listed only one family member that got Naruko's attention in particular:  
 _Husband: Namikaze Minato - Konoha no Kiiroi Senk_ _ō_ _(_ Konoha's Yellow Flash _)_

Naruko looked up at Tsunade with wide, teary eyes. Tsunade answered her unasked question. "Yes, Kushina was your mother. You were born in the late hours of October 10th, she died soon after in the early hours of October 11th, via a stab wound from one of the Kyuubi's claws though her back and out of her abdomen. She was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi before you. Her seal weakened during your birth and an unknown assailant attacked her and released it. He was defeated by the Yondaime, but a body was never recovered."

Naruko just starred at Tsunade's desk for a couple of minutes. Eventually she composed herself and asked, "What about my father?"

Tsunade was surprised by the evenness in her voice but put her hand into the draw again and placed another file in front of Naruko.

Naruko picked up the file titled ' _Namikaze Minato_ '.

There was only one image. The Yondaime Hokage in his famous white cloak over standard jonin clothing, his messy, bright blond hair seemed to be swaying in the breeze. He stood under the same frangipani tree her mother had been sitting under in her pictures, his hands behind his back and a pleasant smile on his face and his bright blue eyes reflected a calm and friendly demeanour. It appeared as though she'd taken after him in looks somewhat with her more angular face as opposed to her mother's rounded one. She even had the same eyes and hair, right down to how naturally messy their hair was. Judging by the size of the tree, the photo seemed to have been taken around the same time as the picture of her pregnant mother. Pulling up the picture a she found a similar shinobi profile:

 _Namikaze Minato - S-Rank  
Yondaime Hokage, Konohagakure no Sato Elite Jonin, Konoha no Kiiroi Senk_ _ō  
Notable Skills - 0-5 Scale  
_ _Fuuinjutsu: 5  
_ _Kenjutsu: 2.5  
_ _Taijutsu: 5  
_ _Ninjutsu: 5  
_ _Elemental Ninjutsu: 4.5 (Katon, Doton)  
_ _Genjutsu: 3.5  
_ _Shurikenjutsu: 5  
_ _Especially notable for fuuinjutsu ability; the Hiraishin no Jutsu in particular._

 _Given a 'Flee-on-site' order during Third Great Shinobi War._

Seeing Naruko finish reading Jiraiya said "He died during the sealing of the Kyuubi into you. He wanted you to be seen as a hero. Unfortunately, the village didn't. He would've been a great father, I see so much of both of them in you, Naruko. Minato was my student. He was like a son to me-"

"Then where we you!?" Naruko suddenly shouted. She had stood up, tears and fury and sorrow shining in her eyes. "Twelve years! I was alone for twelve years! Why!?"

Jiraiya's eyes were filled with a similar sorrow, though he contained it far better. It showed clearly in his voice, however. "After the war and the Kyuubi attack, Konoha was in a greatly weakened position. The Sandaime needed me out of the village, defending it in the shadows. He assured me that he would keep you safe. He occasionally sent me updates on you; when you began living on your own, when you entered the Academy, how you graduated, for example. I didn't know how badly the villagers were treating you. I think part of the reason Sensei didn't tell me was because he knew I'd come straight back and there would be hell to pay." His shoulders were slumped and he bowed his head, unable to look into her eyes anymore. "I know it's not an excuse. I'm sorry, Naruko. I really am. I don't think I can ever make it up to you, but I'll try."

Naruko's rage seemed to evaporate, her energy leaving her. She collapsed into her chair and silently sobbed. Neither Jiraiya nor Tsunade knew what to do. They wanted to comfort the girl but they didn't know if her anger would return. After a while she calmed down and stopped crying, her loud sniffles filled the silence. "...where are they?" she asked just loudly enough for them to hear. Jiraiya walked over slowly and held out his hand. After a moment she took it and stood up. Tsunade got up and walked round the desk and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

The three disappeared in a shunshin and appeared in the small garden area behind the Hokage Tower. They led her toward an older part of the village. It wasn't part of the main city, it was where the various clans of Konoha had their private compounds and estates hidden in the forest. A ways up the path they suddenly turned, seemingly at random into the forest. After a couple of minutes they came upon a dirt path and they followed it. Soon after they came across a two story house that had fallen into disrepair. They walked around to the backyard; there were no fences around the house it was just by itself in a clearing in the forest, apart from what looked like what was once a garden. They stopped beneath a huge frangipani tree with two gravestones stones underneath. She broke down again, but this time both Jiraiya and Tsunade held her as she sobbed.

 **Part 3 End**


	4. Learning

**Part 4**

 _So far it these are the ships I've decided on:  
SakuraxIno, AsumaxKurenei and TsunadexJiraiya, nothing else has been decided. I am considering NarukoxSamui, just cause Samui is kind of blank slate to write how I want and because she's rarely written, but nothing's been decided and I'm open to suggestions. Hope you enjoy, thanks for reading._

* * *

Naruko woke the next morning utterly exhausted. She'd spent years wondering; 'Did her parents leave her, die, disappear? Did they even love her?' Now she had answers. Answers would never give her parents, or the childhood she never really had, being an orphan in a shinobi village meant she wasn't likely to have one but being a Jinchuuriki meant that one forfeited their right to a childhood entirely. People often said many shinobi grew up too fast, Jinchuuriki grew up a lot faster. The previous night had been incredibly emotionally taxing, not to mention she was tired physically from the day's activities too. Despite never meeting them, just knowing who they were made her miss her parents so much, it was almost unbearable.

 **-Flashback-**

She'd explored the old house even after Jiraiya told her that everything that had been inside had been sealed away by him and the Sandaime for safe keeping. Not even furniture was left, not even tables or chairs were left. She'd left after a few minutes, there wasn't anything to see.

"Naruko?" Tsunade asked as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

Naruko sent her a weak smile. "I'm ok, Baa-chan. I will be at least. I've just not known anything about them 'til now."

Naruko crouched down to look at her parents' gravestones, a frangipani floated down in front of her face. She caught it before it hit the ground and looked at it, then up at the tree. Jiraiya crouched down beside her. "Do you want us to tell you about them?"

Tsunade crouched down on her other side. "Yeah, I was good friends with Kushina, I've got plenty of stories." Naruko looked to their smiling faces. She returned a soft smile and nodded.

"I'd like that."

 **-Flashback End-**

Tsunade had told her she'd be off duty for a week to do whatever she wanted. What they both knew she meant was that Naruko could have a week to read through all of the scrolls from her parents had left and the possessions Jiraiya and the Old Man had sealed away, though Jiraiya had made a point to separate and label all of the scrolls so she wouldn't open a scroll only to be crushed by a couch or something.

For a while she just lay in bed. Turning to her left, she saw that it was nearly 10:30am, which was a massive sleep in for a shinobi. Most shinobi rose with the sun, a habit that Jiraiya had just about beat into her. Eventually she couldn't take needing to pee any longer and got up and went to the toilet. She decided that she'd feel better after cleaning herself up. 'Healthy body, healthy mind' and all that. She figured if she washed off all the grime it'd clear her head somewhat.

After tending to every square inch of her body, which included flushing her chakra coils, helping it to flow better, which was a long process. It helped with control and allowed her to gather her chakra faster. By the time she was done and dressed in bright orange sweatpants and an oversized white jumper she sat on her couch and pulled out a box of her mother's sealed possessions. Pulling one out at random she read the label, which just said, 'Sword'. Disengaging the seal onto her empty coffee table, in a burst of smoke the nodachi her mother had been tending to in one of the pictures of her appeared. It was in a red sheath that would've matched her mother's hair. She carefully picked up the sword and pulled it out of its sheath. The wrappings on the hilt were black and red and the fuchi (collar/wrist guard) was made of some sort of matte black metal that had intricate carvings of a tiger in various poses; relaxing, snarling, mid-attack and nuzzling another tiger. The blade was still very sharp, as if it had been taken to a grindstone yesterday, and was made of chakra conductive metal. She put it back into the sheath and set it aside.

She drew out another and unsealed it. A Konoha headband fell onto the table. She picked it up, it had an engraving on the inside in kanji reading; 'Sword and Mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and Spirit alone is not enough'. She considered the quote for a while and wondered where it came from. Shrugging, she placed it back onto the table and pulled out another, this time from her father's box.

Unsealing it she was surprised when a piece of clothing appeared and landed on top of her. Pulling it off she was shocked to find it was one her father's infamous coats. She ran her hands over the material, it was surprisingly soft on the inside. It smelled of wood, ink and paper. She smiled lightly to herself. This was the closest to her parents she had ever been, apart from when she'd been at their graves last night.

Draping the cloak over the armrest she pulled out another scroll. Another metallic object landed on the table. She picked it up to find one of the odd kunai Jiraiya had been fiddling with the night before. This was the first time she'd seen one up close. She noticed the seals on the handle, kinda hard not to, and began trying to analyse them. It wasn't in intricate sealing array like she would've expected but some the symbols she couldn't even begin to decipher. The only one she slightly recognised was some type of space-time seal. She then noticed that another object had appeared on the table. It was a book. Opening it she two sets of handwriting, what appeared to be notes on various sealing techniques. Flipping back to the first page she saw that one of the writers, in neat handwriting was simply written 'Namikaze Minato' and in a messy chicken scratches was 'Uzumaki Kushina'. She found it very amusing as their handwriting was like a reflection of their personalities, at least based on what Tsunade and Jiraiya had told her.

She spent the rest of the day pulling out and arranging her parents' various belongings. Once, she would've carefully hidden these items for fear someone that hated her would break into her apartment, but after she'd returned she'd taken special care to place a number of security seals around the building. When she'd moved out of the orphanage, the Sandaime had purchased an old apartment building and gave it to Naruko as a birthday present. While it wasn't in the best of shape, it served her perfectly. Though, once she started living alone there were always at least two ANBU Operatives assigned to watch over the building, even when she was away with Jiraiya. It was often a job given to ANBU who needed a break but refused to take a holiday.

Over the next week she read though the many jutsu scrolls and notes they'd left. She'd gotten into the habit of reading their fuuinjutsu notes in bed until she couldn't stay awake any longer. There was an entire separate book, the writing was entirely her father's and it detailed his creation of the Hiraishin, which captivated her completely. They weren't actually taught a lot about many of the jutsu they heard about in the Academy, it wasn't something they needed to know about. The last thing they needed was a ten year old Academy student blowing themselves up trying out some fancy jutsu they'd learnt about in class. All they were taught about the Hiraishin was that it enabled the Yondaime to teleport hundreds of time within minutes which he used to great effect in destroying enemy shinobi. He'd created the technique at the height of the Third Great Shinobi War and essentially turned the tide on his own, from a stalemate to a Konoha Victory.

She'd also contemplated replacing her rather basic katana with her mother's nodachi, but she was a ninjutsu specialist, not a kenjutsu specialist like her mother so using such a large sword would likely hamper her ability to cast ninjutsu effectively. After reading through many of her parents' fuuinjutsu notes, she'd found designs and instruction for a storage seal tattoo. While Seal Tattoos weren't unheard of, she already had one to hold the fox after all, it wasn't exactly common either. When you're dealing with symbols that could explode with one wrong brush stroke, most people weren't jumping to have them put permanently etched onto their body. So after practicing on some reinforced kage bunshin, she had one of her clones very carefully tattoo the seal onto her left wrist. Once it was done, with no small amount of discomfort endured, she tested the seal by trying to store a number of different items. Once she was sure the seal was functional she sealed her mother's sword into it, ready to pull out at a moment's notice. She'd have to train with it, as the weight and length difference to her katana would throw her off quite a bit in combat. She was also keen to try out the chakra conductive metal; while most metals could have chakra conducted through them, the nodachi was made with it in mind and as such would require far less concentration, chakra and chakra control.

Deciding she'd spent enough time in her apartment as she hadn't left it in four days and was starting to get a little stir crazy despite all the great scrolls and stuff left to her, she left and began walking around the village, taking in fresh air for the first time in days. It was only about 9am so she wasn't really sure what she was going to do. Then she realised that she was only a block away from Sakura's new apartment. She nodded to herself and turned onto a different road. After a few minutes she came across Sakura's apartment building and went inside. Walking up the stairs to Sakura's floor, she walked down the hall and knocked on the door. She'd only been inside once, it had one bedroom and bathroom off the main part of the apartment and the rest was open, the kitchen, lounge room and small dining table in the same large room. The door opened, a dishevelled Sakura appeared in the doorway in nothing but an overlarge shirt and (presumably) underwear. She seemed to be still half asleep, to Naruko's surprise, as she knew Sakura often got up early to work at the hospital. Naruko raised an eyebrow as Sakura suddenly woke up fully. "Naruko! What are you doing here? Do we have a mission?"

Naruko shook her head. "Nah, I just thought I'd come around and see what you were up to. Bit late for you to be in bed isn't it?"

"Er..." it seemed Sakura was having trouble coming up with a reason for her to be at home this late in the morning.

"Sakura?" a tired, feminine voice called from the bedroom. The girl in question stiffened and Naruko rose an eyebrow and smirked mischievously. "What's taking so long?"

"Yeah, Sakura, what's taking so long?" Naruko asked as she cocked her hips and placed her hands on them.

"Er..." Sakura's face a gone bright red and she began stuttering.

"Sakura?" Naruko looked over Sakura's shoulder to see Ino exit the bedroom in what Naruko knew was Sakura's bathrobe. "oh... hey... Naruko..." Ino realised she was caught, her eyes wide like a deer in the headlights.

"So how long has this been going on, eh?" Naruko asked, leaning into Sakura's increasingly red face.

"Er..."

"You know, that's not really an answer. Ino?" Naruko asked over Sakura's shoulder.

"...bout a year." Ino answered with a blush of her own.

Naruko's eyebrows, somehow, rose further, "Am I the first one to find out?"

Sakura seemed to find her words and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure Kakashi-sensei knows, but he hasn't said anything."

"Same with Shika." Ino said as she walked over and put an arm around Sakura's waist. "I'd be more surprised if he hadn't figured it out."

Naruko nodded. "You're probably right. Well, I guess I'll leave you crazy kids to it." Naruko began walking down the hallway and called over her shoulder. "Whatever you do, don't let Jiraiya find out!"

As Naruko disappeared from sight, Ino turned to her girlfriend, confused. "Why would it matter if Jiraiya-sama found out?"

"He writes Icha-Icha." Sakura answered as she shut the door. "And he researches very thoroughly for each book."

"Research?"

"He likes to... observe."

It took a moment for it to click in Ino's head, but once it did her blush swiftly returned, though it was somewhat out of irritation. "If he tries, I'll castrate him, Sannin or not." Ino stated.

Sakura looked over at her girlfriend with a fond smile as she began pulling stuff out to make breakfast. "Gods, I love you."

Ino responded with a bright smile and she walked over and kissed Sakura. Breakfast was quickly forgotten.


	5. Kazekage Rescue: Part 1

**Part 5**

 _Since I'm pretty much rewriting Shippuden almost entirely there will be a lot of changes to whatever existing arcs I choose to include. Just letting you know now so you aren't confused about things missing or whatever. Still haven't decided on a Naruko ship, it will definitely be yuri, at the moment I'm seriously considering Samui. Completely open to suggestions, just let me know.  
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy and review._

* * *

Two figures walked casually through the desert of Kaze no Kuni heading north. Both wore conical straw hats and black cloaks with red clouds, signifying them as Akatsuki members. One stood straight and the other was hunched over, close to the ground. The sun was just setting to the west as the village of Sunagakure no Sato appeared in front of them, slowly rising over the horizon.

"Un, how should we do this, Sasori-san?" The taller of the two asked.

"Hmm..." the hunched figure growled in thought. "Why not show the shinobi of Sunagakure your art while I capture the Ichibi?" he spoke with a raspy, guttural voice that seemed to echo inside of him.

Raising his head, one would be able to see the smirk that appeared on the taller man's face. "With pleasure, un."

* * *

Temari leapt from building to building as explosions echoed across the village, the villagers were running and screaming in the opposite direction. She could see smoke rising in various places around the southern wall. She stopped and examined a crater down in street, the smell of sulphur and blood filling her nostrils as she surveyed the gore splattered onto the buildings and street. Her face morphed into an expression of cold fury. Whoever was attacking her village was going to get cut the fuck in half.

Just as she was about to start jumping again, her danger-sense went mental and she frantically jumped to the building across the street. Not a moment later, the roof top she had been standing on was engulfed in a massive explosion, the resulting shockwave knocking her to the ground. Good thing too, as she watched a massive piece of stone that had once been a roof fly just centimetres over her. She quickly stood and looked for her attacker. She saw a weird white bird high up in the air, a person on its back. It was difficult, but she managed to make out their black cloak and red patches over it. She was suddenly filled with dread as she looked back to the inner city. "Gaara." She realised with horror. She quickly channelled chakra into her legs and almost flew back toward the Kazekage Estate.

As she made her way back, she could see huge amounts of sand forming a shield over the village, but it was moving too slowly, large parts of the city still open for attack. Getting closer, she could see why, as sand tendrils moved to shield Gaara and attack something she couldn't see.

Just as she was almost back to the Estate she saw the white bird land on the roof and take off again, this time with two extra passengers. One of which, she recognised. "Gaara!" She shouted desperately. She fell to her knees. She'd failed.

* * *

Naruko was heading back to her apartment after a trip to the Ichiraku's. She was just about to enter her building when an ANBU Operative with a cat mask and familiar purple hair landed in front of her. "The Hokage has a mission for you. Report to her immediately." Before Naruko could even say anything, the ANBU disappeared in a shunshin, leaving her alone in the small street. Naruko quickly shunshined up to her apartment and within a minute was fully geared up and locking the door to her apartment, activating the many security seals, before disappearing in a Shunshin again.

* * *

"What's goin' on, Baa-chan?" Naruko asked as she entered through the window. She saw Kakashi was there along with Sakura. She got a bad feeling when she saw Kakashi was standing fully to attention and not reading his book.

"Naruko, finally." Tsunade said as she stood up and looked over the three of them. "We received word an hour ago that Suna has been attacked by two Akatsuki members."

Naruko's eyes widened and then narrowed dangerously. "What happened?" she growled.

Sakura looked at her with some worry and surprise, not expecting the reaction. Kakashi simply stood, waiting for the Hokage to continue.

"Basically, the village was attacked by two Akatsuki members. It sustained a large amount of damage from some type of explosive jutsu from one of them and another assailant that we have no information on. The second assailant defeated the Kazekage while their forces were engaged with the explosive user. All we know is that Suna doesn't have the shinobi available to send out of the village, and since we are their allies and the closest thing to experts on the Akatsuki, they've asked for support. You three are the most suited to fight the Akatsuki, so I'm sending you. Also, you should know that the explosive user can fly on some type of huge bird. We don't know if it's a summon so be ready for anything. Naruko" Tsunade waited until the girl made eye contact. "You have the most ranged techniques out of the three of you, I expect you'll be able to deal with this person."

Naruko gave her a determined nod. "'Course, you can count on me, Baa-chan."

Tsunade nodded to her. "Quickly get whatever you need for the mission. You're to leave as soon as you're ready. Dismissed." They saluted and began to leave. "Naruko." Tsunade called. "Come back for a sec." Naruko walked back to her desk and Kakashi and Sakura exited.

"Yeah? Whaddya' need?"

Tsunade could see Naruko was trying to be calm but she could see anger and worry shining in the girls eyes. "I know you're friends with the Kazekage. I expect that you'll remain professional and represent Konoha properly." Naruko nodded grimly, a gloomy expression on her face. "Come here." Tsunade walked around the desk and held her arms out. She and Naruko had a short hug. Tsunade kissed her forehead and patted her on the back. "It'll be alright, gaki. Now go show those Akatsuki bastards why they shouldn't mess with us."

Naruko smiled and nodded, quickly jumping out the windows and heading toward the Great Gate.

Tsunade anxiously grimaced and sat down, pulling out a bottle of sake.

* * *

After a few minutes of running Naruko called out "Hold up!"

Kakashi and Sakura both stopped, landing on branches a few metres in front of Naruko. "What's wrong? We need to keep moving." Kakashi asked.

"I know. It's taking too long. Come here." Kakashi and Sakura shared a look but both obliged, jumping to the same branch as Naruko. "Good. Brace yourselves. Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Unexpectedly, a massive toad appeared beneath them, one they both recognised.

"What the hell!?" Gamabunta yelled. His eyes shifted upwards to find Naruko looking down at him. "What's wrong, gaki? I don't see any Biju around." He asked somewhat sarcastically.

"No time to explain, 'Bunta! We need to head west, ASAP!" Naruko called down.

Gamabunta growled slightly but obliged. "Fine! But you owe me for this."

"I always do, 'Bunta!" she yelled back fondly. Turning to her teammates she said. "You might wanna hang on."

Not a second later, Gamabunta took a huge leap, Sakura and Kakashi almost flying backwards.

* * *

"Stop!"

Sasori and Deidara had landed a few hours ago so Deidara wouldn't end up with chakra exhaustion, but it seemed someone had managed to catch up to them. Both Akatsuki members turned to see a Suna shinobi who they recognised as Kankuro; the Kazekage's brother. Three massive puppets of vastly different designs appeared beside Kankuro and he prepared himself to fight. "You fuckers better hand my brother over, or shits gon' get really messy, real fast." he promised.

Sasori used his massive metal tail to hand the unconscious Gaara to Deidara. "Take the Ichibi back to base. I will take care of this."

"Ugh, fine, have your fun Sasori-san, un." With that said, Deidara recreated his bird and took flight.

Kankuro tried to stop him by firing poisonous needles out of one of his puppets, but they were blocked by Sasori's tail. "You will earn the right to go after your brother, if you defeat me." Sasori declared.

Kankuro's face hardened and he prepared his puppets.

* * *

Naruko had dismissed Gamabunta at the edge of the desert, he wouldn't do well in the scorching heat and endless sands of Kaze no Kuni. Naruko unsealed three thin cloaks made of light but durable material to protect their skin from the blistering sunlight, but not hold their body heat in. Handing one to Kakashi and Sakura, they both thanked her and put them on, Naruko doing the same. She then decided to take the time to teach Kakashi and Sakura a technique she'd learnt while travelling with Jiraiya.

 **-Flashback-**

"So where are we headed now?" Naruko asked. They'd been travelling around the Yōso Kuni for about a year. Jiraiya had finally managed to convince her that bright 'kill me', or as he referred to it, 'fuck off' orange was a bad idea for a ninja to wear. She'd agreed to switch to black ANBU style pants, though there was an orange stripe on each leg, he was willing to let that go, and a vermillion long sleeve shirt she'd taken to after she'd fallen in love with the colour of it. She'd also begun growing her hair out and experimenting with makeup, to his surprise. Apparently, with puberty came a desire to be more feminine. He wasn't going to question it, long as she didn't start putting makeup on him (he chose to ignore the fact that he wore face-paint).

"We're heading to Sunagakure. Apparently, their Jinchuuriki has been rising in the ranks and not going bat-shit crazy every ten minutes but he still can't sleep. They've requested me personally to come look at his seal." Jiraiya explained with some puffed up pride.

"What, they don't have fuuinjutsu users in Suna? Not that I'm complaining. It'll be nice to see Gaara again." Naruko responded.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at the last part. "Well yeah, they have people that know fuuinjutsu but they aren't really at my level. Besides, the messed up seal he's got is part of why he was fucking nuts in the first place. Though, all those assassination attempts probably didn't help."

After a couple days of travel they stopped to wait for Gaara in a small oasis in the middle of the desert. Apparently, they didn't want someone messing with a Jinchuuriki's seal in the middle of their village. They waited for a few hours, it was a good opportunity for Naruko to practice some fuuinjutsu, when the three Sand Siblings showed up with their teacher. After a quick catch up, Gaara declared that he wanted to get started. Jiraiya began examining the seal and said that it would take him quite a bit of time to examine the seal fully, as the Suna fuuinjutsu style was a bit different to what he used.

During that time, Temari and Kankuro struck up a conversation with Naruko. At some point in the conversation, Naruko had complained about how long and hot the walk was to get to the oasis. The two elder Sand Siblings offered to teach her to 'Sand Surf', a faster way of traversing the desert. It took a while, but the process wasn't too much harder than water walking, the only difference being that instead of having to compensate for the movement of the water, the user needed to use the chakra to propel themselves forward. After some practicing and falls that left her with a mouthful of sand, she got it down and was merrily gliding around the oasis.

After that Jiraiya announced that there was nothing he could do. The seal had been in place too long and was tied to Gaara's chakra circulatory system. Temari and Kankuro were greatly saddened by his announcement, but Gaara seemed pretty blasé about it. When Naruko asked he just shrugged and said he was prepared for a negative assessment to come back. After Naruko caught up with Gaara and praised him on his recovery so far, they parted ways. After they'd left, Jiraiya had demanded to know how Naruko got the secret to Sand Surfing out of them, as it was apparently supposed to be kept secret from outsiders. Naruko just smiled and began walking away, Jiraiya followed essentially begging her to tell him. She'd continued to use it as leverage to get secrets about certain jutsu out of Jiraiya, and just as they reached the edge of the desert she told him.

They'd visited Suna a few times when they passed through Kaze no Kuni. By the last visit, Naruko was good friends with all three siblings, though she and Kankuro often butted heads after she couldn't resist making fun of his puppets or face paint. Temari even helped her a bit with her Futon training and she helped Gaara with some of the issues he had that he didn't often talk about since she was the only person that could really empathise with him.

 **-Flashback End-**

Once Kakashi and Sakura were able to Sand Surf without falling over, they began travelling rapidly toward Suna, three times as fast then if they were walking. While shinobi could run at high speeds it required a lot of chakra to do so over a large distance, and it wouldn't be a good idea to do so in the desert as a combination of heavy chakra use and perspiration as well as the heat itself would lead them to becoming exhausted very quickly, that problem was sorted when Sand Surfing only required a small amount of chakra for propulsion.

As they glided across the sand Sakura decided it was a good time to ask a question that had been on her mind for a while now. "Hey! What's the deal with these Akatsuki guys anyway!? Why have they kidnapped the Kazekage!? I thought they were after Naruko for whatever reason!" she yelled over the wind.

"They're after nine different people across the Yōso Kuni!" Kakashi yelled back.

"Why!?"

"We each have one thing in common!" Naruko yelled back, a grimace on her face. She figured she wasn't going to be able to hide it for much longer anyway.

"What!?"

"We all have one of the Biju sealed inside us!"

Sakura was silent at her answer. It only took her a few seconds for her to realise the truth, but when she did, her eyes widened in shock and dismay. Her control slipped and she almost fell over but she managed to right herself and continued on, her thoughts filled with questions. Now wasn't the time though.

* * *

It was almost night fall by the time they'd made it to Suna, the air was rapidly cooling, soon enough they'd be in danger of freezing to death if they'd been caught out. They were greeted at the gate by the Sand Siblings' teacher, Baki. He nodded to them, his face grim. "Follow me." He said simply.

They walked through the village, taking in the craters and sand covered buildings. Some of the craters had gore around them. Naruko grimaced at the damage but continued silently. After a few minutes of walking, they were surprised to be entering the hospital. Naturally, it was in full chaos. People were running around frantically and the halls were filled with groans of pain and the smell of antiseptic and blood.

They were eventually led to a room at the end of a hallway, Temari was frantically pacing outside. Naruko ran up to her.

"Temari!"

The girl in question looked up. "Naruko! It's good to see you, but we'll have to catch up later. My brothers are in trouble and I just... I don't know what to do." She admitted. Temari was stubborn, it wasn't easy for her to admit weakness of any kind.

"It's ok Temari, we'll do whatever we- wait. Broth _ers_? What happened to Kankuro?"

Temari just shook her head and motioned for them to follow. Opening the door behind her, she lead them into an operating room, showing them a writhing Kankuro on the operating table and he was only wearing underwear. Many of his veins were bulging unnaturally and they were a deep, purple colour almost like a particularly bad bruise. He was also covered in recently healed cuts and bruises.

Sakura walked up to the operating table and inspected him. "Poison?" she stated, more than asked.

Temari nodded. "Yes. We don't know what it is. The medics are baffled and we don't have any antidotes that work." she answered. Though her voice was tightly controlled, they could still hear the concern and panic she was trying to hide.

Sakura turned back to them with a determined frown. "Here's what I'll need..."

 **End Part 5**


	6. Kazekage Rescue: Part 2

**Part 6**

 _The Naruto wiki says that the Shakuton is weak to the Water Release, which doesn't really make sense considering it can 'mummify' people and that, so instead I am making the Shakuton weak to the Earth Release unless the Shakuton jutsu is super powerful._

* * *

It took the better part of an hour, but Sakura was finally able to draw out the poison from Kankuro and heal him fully. He'd need to rest for a few days to come back from his chakra exhaustion and for his internal organs to heal with the assistance of Suna medic-nin, but he'd make a full recovery. Sakura had also developed several portable antidotes, amazing the medic-nin as well as Naruko who previously had no idea how skilled Sakura was.

Sakura had spent the next few minutes resting. Temari and Naruko had talked to the medic-nins while they examined Kankuro to get some more details on his condition and Kakashi was talking to Baki about the two Akatsuki members that had taken the Kazekage.

"Naruko, Sakura, come here." Kakashi called as he walked into an empty corner of the room, away from the others. Naruko placed a reassuring hand on Temari's shoulder who smiled gratefully at her and then she made her way over to Kakashi, Sakura trailing after her, leaving Temari standing over her brother.

"What's up, sensei?" Naruko asked.

"From what Baki-san told me, I think I know at least one of the Akatsuki members that attacked Suna." Kakashi opened a slightly battered bingo book, showing them an image of smirking blond man with an Iwagakure Hitai-ate. "This is Isshun no Deidara ( _Deidara of a Single Moment_ ). An S-ranked missing-nin from Iwa, he possesses the Bakuton, the Explosion Release. He defected from Iwa after stealing some type of kinjutsu which allows him to create explosive sculptures. Based on Baki-san's description of the bird Deidara flew on, I believe that the sculptures are autonomous in some way."

"The bird?" Sakura asked. She then remembered the Hokage's description of a 'weird white bird'. "Is it one of his sculptures?"

"I believe so, yes. The bingo book makes no mention of a summoning contract in his possession, so that's my best bet." Kakashi responded.

"What about the other one?" Naruko asked.

"On that, I have nothing. They're clearly a poison user of some kind since it's not Deidara's style. Based on Temari's description of events, this member was also skilled and/or powerful enough to incapacitate the Kazekage by themselves."

"I can tell you exactly who the other member is."

Turning, the three of them saw an elderly woman standing over Kankuro, examining a small amount of the poison Sakura had extracted from him.

"Yeah? Who?" Naruko asked.

Temari quickly walked up to her and whispered in her ear, "Naruko, she's Lady Chiyo, one of the village elders. Show some respect, please!"

"That is quite alright, Temari." the elderly woman stated, turning to them. "The other Akatsuki member is a missing-nin from this very village."

"What!?" Temari exclaimed in shock. " _Who?_ "

Naruko looked at her worriedly, it was like she could feel Temari's anger tangibly.

"My grandson, Akasuna no Sasori ( _Sasori of the Red Sand_ )." She answered evenly. Out of the corner of her eye, Naruko saw Kakashi stiffen. "Ah yes, that name rings a bell, doesn't it, Hatake?" Chiyo asked, a barely detectible amount of anger in her voice. "Alas, now is not the time." she stated, her voice even again. "I believe you have we have a Kazekage to rescue, do we not?"

"We?" Naruko asked with some surprise.

"Yes, girl, we. I may be retired, but I am still a Sunagakure kunoichi. I will accompany you to recover the Kazekage." she turned to Temari. "You will take over command of Suna's defences. My brother will be here soon, to assist you."

Temari bowed, her face forcibly blank. "Yes, Lady Chiyo."

Chiyo turned to Kakashi. "I assume you still possess your Nin-ken contract?" Kakashi nodded. She handed him a piece of ripped black cloth, half of which had a red cloud on it. "This was recovered from Kankuro's puppets."

Kakashi nodded in understanding and turned away from them. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." In a burst of smoke, Pakkun appeared in front of them and saluted.

"What's goin' on?" the tiny dog asked.

"We need you to track someone for us." Kakashi answered, holding the cloth out to the pug.

After a few sniffs of the cloth and then the air, Pakkun nodded. "Yeah I got it. Come on then."

The dog jogged out of the room, the three Konoha-nin and the Suna-elder following close behind. Temari watched them leave with a troubled expression. "Please be safe." She begged to no one in particular.

* * *

After a couple hours of Sand Surfing, Kakashi having placed Pakkun on his shoulder as they did so, they had reached the edge of Kaze no Kuni and had travelled into the scattered forests of Kawa no Kuni ( _River Country/Land of Rivers_ ). Eventually they entered an area where the treetops were so thick that very little sunlight was getting through. In the corner of her eye, Naruko noticed a number of explosive tags underneath the branches of a tree they were about to jump to and yelled. "Scatter!" at the last second.

Not a moment later the tree that they'd been moving through exploded brilliantly, sending debris from the trees in every direction. They had all dropped to the ground and looked around for their attacker. Simultaneously, they all saw none other than Uchiha Itachi standing casually on a tree above them. "Do not look into his eyes! No matter what you do!" Kakashi told them.

"You have grown since the last time I saw you, Naruko. I wonder, where is my dear brother, Sasuke?" he drawled in a monotone.

Naruko scowled up at him. "You know damn well that he defected, you bastard."

"Ah yes, now that you mention it, I do remember hearing something to that effect. No matter. You shall not pursue the Ichibi any further." Itachi stated, his demeanour changing as his stance became more rigid and threatening.

"We _will_ get Gaara back, you arsehole! You won't stop me!" Naruko yelled, gathering her chakra. As she did so, Kakashi silently directed Chiyo to flank around the left, while he and Sakura moved right. Moulding her chakra and channelling it through her stomach coils, she formed her chakra into oil. At the same time, she formed Katon chakra inside of her lungs. She spat the oil out of her mouth, at the same time releasing Katon chakra through her nose. The result was a powerful 'Katon: Enden' ( _Fire Release: Flame Bullet_ ), that lit up the forest in front of her and forced Itachi to Kawarimi.

* * *

While Team Kakashi fought Itachi, Team Guy was swiftly moving west toward Kaze no Kuni after being sent to back them up in their mission to save the Kazekage. They were moving through a rocky area when they suddenly stopped, seeing a familiar missing-nin in front of them.

Hoshigaki Kisame himself stood in front of them, his massive wrapped sword resting on his shoulder. Without any greeting other than a smirk, he threw his sword into the air and began forming hand seals, then shouted "Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" ( _Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave_ ). A massive amount of water surged from his mouth, filling the dip in the earth in front of them. He caught the massive sword and then rode the giant wave down to them, said wave forcing them to jump high into the air or be washed away. Guy and Lee both landed and began trading blows with him, narrowly avoiding his sword as they did so. Lee managed to duck underneath a swing and his leg rose in a swift kick, connecting with Kisame's wrist and sending the massive sword spiralling away. Dodging out of the way, Guy and Lee watched Neji shout "Hakke Kūshō! ( _8 Trigrams Air Palm_ ). A powerful gust of wind flew from Neji's palm and thrust Kisame back. Kisame caught his sword, startling the Konoha-nin, and used it to stab into the water's surface, stopping him from going any further back. He was then surprised by a spiked ball flying toward him courtesy of TenTen, barely managing to block it before it exploding, launching its spikes in every directing, and blowing him into the water.

Team Guy stood on the water's surface and scanned for the fish-like man, wondering if he'd survived. They were simultaneously stunned and unsurprised when he rose out of the water, sword in hand. He smirked at them again and launched himself at the Konoha-nin.

* * *

Itachi easily dodged a punch from Sakura then blocked a blade from one of Chiyo's puppets, proceeding to kick it away. Using a shunshin, he escaped having his head removed by a wind-enhanced katana strike from Naruko and moved into a taijutsu stance as Kakashi ran at him. He blocked a kick with his left forearm, using his right hand to grab Hatake's leg and fling him at Chiyo's fast approaching puppet, forcing her to pull the puppet back to stop it from being crushed. He then leant backwards, dodging a number of shuriken thrown by Sakura. In a burst of speed, he appeared in front of her and connected a kick to her mid-section, sending her flying backwards to be caught by a newly created Naruko shadow clone. He was then quickly descended upon by multiple sword wielding blondes. Due to the blade's wind chakra enhancement and the sheer number of attackers, he was unable to counter, being forced to dodge until he had an opening. It was at that moment, he was surprised when the real Naruko exploded from the ground behind him and shouted, "Get back! Shakuton: taiyō no shi!" ( _Scorch Release: Death of the Sun!_ ) Naruko's hands were held in front of her as a glowing yellow ball began to form between them. The next moment, she pushed her hands forward, essentially throwing the ball at Itachi at an incredibly high speed. They all jumped as far away as they could as the miniature sun connected with Itachi's back, engulfing him and collapsing in on itself before it exploded, vaporising the area around it. It seemed the attack was successful, but Itachi was an S-ranked ninja for a reason. There was a cough on the edge of the vaporised area and they turned to see Itachi in a crouch with a pained expression on his face. His back was burned horrifically and his arms were gone from the elbow down. He collapsed onto his back and stopped breathing, his eyes empty. His body then morphed and contorted to become a non-descript sandy-haired man.

"A fake." Chiyo stated.

"Regardless, he fought just like Itachi. Good work guys, but we need to move." Kakashi said, jumping back up into the treetops. They followed him, Naruko casting a glance back at the destruction behind them.

* * *

Team Guy stood over a corpse that was smashed into the earth. "A fake?" Lee asked.

"Yes, it seems to be." Guy answered with uncharacteristic seriousness. "It even fought just like him..." he then smiled brightly at his somewhat battered students. "No matter! The battle was won and we must continue!"

"Yes, Guy-sensei!" his three students chorused. The quickly began heading west again, on the lookout for any more attackers.

* * *

"The fuck is that?" Naruko asked, her anxiousness getting to her. The fight with Itachi had lasted too long, they'd lost too much time. They stood at the edge of a river, the other side was a cliff with a perfectly spherical rock wedged into it. On the front of the stone was some type of sealing tag Naruko didn't entirely recognise, but could read some parts such as 'direction' and 'barrier'.

"Some kind of barrier. Hm..." Kakashi answered, a hand on his chin. "I've seen this technique before. To the north-west, north-east, south-west and south-east there will be a seal that holds this barrier together. They must all be destroyed simultaneously so that we can destroy the barrier."

"I can do it." Naruko said, creating four shadow clones. She pulled four blank sealing tags out of her pouch, as well as a brush and bottle of ink. Within a minute, four intricate seals had been drawn, one given to each clone and they headed in the directions Kakashi had said.

"What were the seals?" Sakura asked.

" Sibling Exploding tags. Once all of my clones are dispelled, I'll activate them and boom. No more barrier." Naruko answered.

"Good thinking, Naruko." Kakashi praised with an eye smile.

Naruko nodded in thanks with a small smile. Her body jolted slightly and she said. "It's done." She formed one-handed ram and explosions echoed from all four directions.

"Sakura, if you would." Kakashi said nodding to the giant rock that sealed the entrance to the Akatsuki hideout.

"Sure thing, Kakashi-sensei." Taking a running start, she jumped at the giant rock with her arm pulled back. Her fist connected with the rock and her Enhanced Strength jutsu shattered the rock into many pieces, the fragments falling into the river.

"Let's go." Chiyo ordered.

They entered the cave to see Gaara face-down on the ground. Deidara sat on a large stone while the hulking form of Sasori stood next to him. Seeing them enter, Deidara stood and exclaimed. "Welcome, Konoha-shinobi and Old-Lady-Suna. We do hope you'll enjoy your stay, and appreciate our fine art collection. Before you die, make sure to tell us who's art is better. Sasori's _'timeless'_ " he said with dismissive air quotes "art. Or my beautiful art! The explosive art of the moment! KATSU!" he shouted with glee, his hands reaching upwards.

Suddenly the ceiling exploded, huge chunks of rock smashing into the ground like meteorites. The four intruders only just dodging. Sakura and Chiyo ended up back near the entrance and Kakashi and Naruko were near the two Akatsuki-nin. Looking at Gaara's lifeless body, Naruko was filled with rage. Thankfully, the reinforcement to her seal kept too much of the Kyuubi's chakra from coming through, just stopping short of covering her in a chakra cloak. Her eyes turned an unnatural blood-red with slitted pupils, her nails elongated and sharpened and her whisker marks became darker and thicker. Deidara seemed amused by her rage and casually walked forward and slowly lowered his foot onto the back of Gaara's head.

This of course only served to make her angrier. " **I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!** " she screamed. Without warning, she exploded forward and slashed at the Ex-Iwa-nin with her new claws like a wild animal. She pursued him until he created and boarded a clay bird and flew through the massive hole that was once the ceiling to the cave. Naruko easily followed with a chakra-enhanced jump. Kakashi swore and followed, narrowly dodging a swipe from Sasori's tail.

Sasori tried to attack again, but his tail was knocked away by a chakra-enhanced fūma shuriken. He turned to see Sakura lowering her arm, Chiyo standing on a rock behind her. "It is us you will fight Sasori. It is time to end this." Chiyo stated, her voice even but with an underlying sadness.

"Right you are, Chiyo-baa-san. This _is_ where it ends." he responded, his gravelly voice echoed throughout the cave. His tail rose menacingly behind him. " _For you_." The tail flew forward, heading straight for Sakura. She dodged it, jumping onto the tail itself and then leaping at Sasori.

She descended toward Sasori, her fist glowing and cocked to punch.

* * *

As Naruko pursued Deidara, her head cleared to the point that she could think clearly. She realised that she'd never be able to do anything to him from down on the ground. She remembered what Tsunade said to her about remaining professional and tried to calm down. She stopped and thought about what to do. Tsunade was correct in that she had a number of ranged techniques but at the speed Deidara could fly, it would be just about impossible to hit him.

"Naruko!" She turned to see Kakashi come up behind her, Sharingan blazing. "Naruko, I understand how you feel, but you _cannot_ let it get to you." he said imploringly.

She looked down. "I know, I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. But right now, we need to take care of Deidara."

"Yes. We do." he looked up to the circling bird, it seemed Deidara was waiting for them to make the first move. "I have an idea, but afterwards I won't be able to fight. I may fall entirely unconscious." he warned.

Naruko nodded. "I got nothin' else. Go ahead, sensei."

Closing his Sharingan eye, he focused more chakra into it, morphing it into the vague shape of a shuriken. As he focused his attack at Deidara's head, the pain of activating his unnatural Mangekyo Sharingan became too much, even for him, and he cast it somewhat randomly before he would be unable. "Kamui!" he shouted.

"The fuck!?" Deidara cried. A strange intangible swirl began forming around his head. He managed to veer away before it activated but it suddenly collapsed, taking his right arm with it. "You fucking tree-hugging CUNTS!" he screamed, his eyes closed as he tried to get passed the pain. He lost control of his bird for a moment and it plummeted toward the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw a massive sun-like fireball screaming toward him. Before it even hit him, it felt as if his blood was literally boiling inside of him. He tried to pilot the bird out of the way but he couldn't gain control back in time, the bright yellow ball engulfing him.

* * *

Naruko watched with uncharacteristic satisfaction as Deidara struggled to pilot his bird. She watched as he was swallowed by her powered up Shakuton: taiyō no shi ( _Scorch Release: Death of the Sun_ ). Turning around she saw Kakashi leaned against a tree breathing heavily, a hand held to his left eye as blood flowed through his fingers. Her face softened and she trudged over to him. "Come on, sensei" she said quietly. She picked him up, draping the arm that wasn't covering his eye over her shoulders and they stumbled back toward the cave.

They eventually arrived at the hole to find a massacre of puppets, with Team Guy and Sakura as well as a small squad of Suna Shinobi, one of which was Baki, standing around Gaara's body, Chiyo crouching over him. As they entered, Lee and Guy ran over to help her with Kakashi, easily carrying him back over to the others. Naruko trailed behind them, a depressed expression marring her face.

Her gloomy expression took on a curious quality as she watched Chiyo's hands glow above Gaara's chest. She then closed her eyes, and rose her head to the sky, then opened them to look at Naruko. "I hope your village and mine can lead our peoples into a brighter future, Naruko. And I know it will be you and Gaara at the helm." with that she closed her eyes again and the glowing chakra on her hands intensified. Her eyes suddenly opened and she shouted. "Kishō Tensei!" she immediately fell backwards and lay still. Naruko looked at her with wide eyes. She then heard coughing and turned to see Gaara's chest shaking as he tried to clear his throat. The Sunagakure shinobi tried to get close but were stopped by Sakura.

"Wait! Let me examine him." she said.

Gaara's eyes opened and starred at the sky. He looked at each of their faces in shock. "I am... alive?"

Naruko ran over and couched next to him. She smiled with teary eyes. "Yes, Gaara. You're alive."

* * *

 **End Chapter 6**


	7. Shock and Awe

**Part 7: Shock and Awe**

* * *

Naruko sat on top of the small water tower on the roof top of the motel she was staying at. It was slightly damp after it had rained earlier, but a quick burst of katon charka cleared it up so she could sit. She'd accepted a solo mission to deliver some orders to a border outpost on the eastern coast of Hi no Kuni. The mission was already done, it had only taken her two and half days at her top speed, but she'd arrived late in the night and not wanted to have to camp out again.

She was breathing steadily, almost as if meditating, with her mother's nodachi across her lap. It was almost midnight, the moon occasionally peaking through the clouds. The air was surprisingly cold; it was the beginning of winter so Hi no Kuni would be getting some snow over the next couple of weeks.

As such, she'd reluctantly agreed to changed her clothes, if for no other reason than to get a worried Shizune off her back. She still wore what was now her signature vermillion dress, though now with a custom jacket; it was essentially designed as a black Konoha chuunin-vest with long sleeves and a fur collar, and fur lining inside. She'd also switched out her hot pants and mesh pantyhose for tight black pants. Her heeled shinobi boots had also been replaced by simple black enclosed, ankle high, chunky-heeled leather boots. She also had a beanie stored in a new storage-tattoo right above the old one on her left wrist. She'd also _very_ reluctantly changed her gloves so that they covered her fingers entirely. She had an odd fondness for her normal gloves, she mused. Probably just used to them, she even wore them when in civilian clothes most of the time.

After some reading into the many, _many_ notes, scrolls and books left behind by her parents, she'd learned that the nodachi was more than simply her mother's sword. It was an ancient heirloom, passed down through the Uzumaki from before the Shinobi Era, when the Uzumaki were a clan of Samurai in Mizu no Kuni. It was forged by a master smith named Masamune, who's descendents went on to forge the blades of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū ( _Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist_ ). After she'd learnt that, she felt both an obligation and a desire to use it. The problem was, she was a ninjutsu specialist. A nodachi was simply not compatible with her current fighting style. She'd been trying to remember the way that Zabuza fought; he wielded one of the largest blades in the world and still used ninjutsu quite easily, though it was only a small pool of techniques that he used. She was able to cast jutsu and wield a sword at the same time, the problem lay in the fact that the nodachi requires two hands to be wielded correctly, and ninjutsu was about three time more difficult to cast with one hand. As such, she'd learned to use a two basic techniques with one hand. One was the Kage Bunshin (she'd also learnt to cast it silently), while a B-ranked jutsu, it was at this point basic to her at least. The other was the Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu, which in conjuncture with a wind-covered blade, was very deadly. Of course, she could utilise clones for ninjutsu, but their ability to concentrate and mould chakra was well below the original's.

She sighed, opening her eyes and looking down at the sheathed blade. Masamune was its name, after the smith that forged it. She frowned at the sword as she continued to dwell on her predicament. She was about to get up and go inside when a figure landed in front of her.

She was surprised to see Jiraiya standing there. He grinned and waved up at her. "Hey, gaki!"

"Hey, Ero-sennin. You know, you show up so suddenly like this, you gotta prove who you are." Naruko said, her hand ready to draw Masamune.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes but complied. "I once caught you making out with some random girl with purple hair in Tano in south Kaze no Kuni."

Naruko blushed and let her hand drop from her sword. "Alright fine. What're you doin' here?"

"I was in the area. Heard a local talking about a Konoha-kunoichi with bright yellow hair. Not many fit that description." He answered with a smirk. He sobered and continued. "Anyway, heard some rumours about a snake carving in a cliff nearby. Fits Orochimaru's MO perfectly. So I'm gonna look around. You comin'?"

* * *

"Oh yeah. That's Orochimaru alright." Jiraiya murmured. They were hidden in tree branches at the base of a tall cliff. In the side of the cliff was a large stone carving of a snake with a double door in its mouth.

"Spooky bastard." Naruko muttered. She adjusted her shoulders, not used to the feeling of Masamune on her back.

"You've got no idea. Alright, the entrances are never guarded. Lures unsuspecting civilians further inside so they can't escape. Be on your guard. If we get split, call sign is frost, counter is tiger."

Naruko nodded. "Got it. Let's go."

* * *

They entered the base. There was nothing but a long hallway for a while, the first dozen rooms they found were featureless barrack-style rooms that were devoid of life. Sooner or later, they started finding small libraries of everything from children's books to rare jutsu, a number of which they 'borrowed'.

They entered a huge lab with a large number of tables filled to the brim with random scientific items. As Jiraiya began examining the various items, Naruko investigated a door on the far side of the room. Opening it, she was surprised to see someone lying in a bed with their back to her. They had long, pale green hair and she estimated they may be about eleven or twelve years old.

She was about investigate further when a stone wall rose in the middle of the room. She quickly jumped out into the main lab only to see another wall had blocked the only entrance into the room. Sensing someone above her, she looked up to see a young woman with spiky light blue hair wearing green dress with one long sleeve and one short.

"What are you doing here?" she asked irritatedly.

"Just looking around for my old teammate." Jiraiya answered, coming out of the shadows. The woman was surprised but hid it well.

"Well." she said. "You won't find Orochimaru-sama here. This base has been abandoned for some time."

"And yet, you are here and are clearly an Otogakure-nin."

"Who's the kid?" Naruko asked, hostility clear in her voice.

"None of your business!" The woman shouted angrily.

"Ah." Jiraiya said, like he'd solved a puzzle. "Protective are we? Interesting."

The woman shunshined down in front of the door the kid had been in. "You will leave. Sannin or not, you will not go past this door."

"Odd that one of Orochimaru's would be so protective over one child, in an apparently abandoned base." Jiraiya said, walked over, not in the slightest bit threatened.

"Do not speak as if you know anything, Sannin!" she shouted, her hands forming a sign.

Jiraiya stopped. He dropped the smirk. "You'd do well to remember I am the strongest Sannin. Orochimaru would've been dead a long time ago if he wasn't such a slimy bastard. Now. Who is the behind the door?"

The woman seemed to consider her options. Naruko could see some panic appearing in her eyes. "Just stay _away, dammit!_ "

"Answer me and I'll consider it."

"He's..." the fight left her as she realised the hopelessness of her situation. Jiraiya on his own, she might be able to injure or tire out. But him _and_ his student, who was once the teammate of that bastard Sasuke. Not to mention the other rumours she'd heard about 'Shakuton no Naruko' ( _Naruko of the Scorch Release_ ). "He's my responsibility." she finally answered.

"Orochimaru put you in charge of him?" Naruko asked.

"Well..." she groaned, obviously not wanting to answer. "Yes and no. I volunteered to take him because he is my responsibility."

"Why?" Naruko asked.

"I... Orochimaru-sama forced me to kill his mother." she saw no point in lying. Jiraiya was not only the strongest Sannin, but Konoha's spymaster, as many easily forgot given his loud and brash attitude.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "How did you become an Oto-nin?" he asked.

She glared. "That is none of your business!"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Fine. You have some choices. Come quietly, or go loudly. One way or another, you aren't staying here. That includes the kid. You fight us, you die, we take the kid back to Konoha. You fight us, maybe you live, we take you _and_ the kid to Konoha. You surrender, we take you and the kid to Konoha. Decide. Now."

She glared, but eventually just leant against the wall. "Fine. I surrender."

"Naruko." Jiraiya ordered, nodding at the woman.

Naruko nodded and wordlessly made a clone. The clone walked over the tied the woman up with ninja-wire then placed a chakra-sealing tag on the back of her neck, one that would be very painful to take off if not done properly.

Jiraiya had forced the stone wall down and placed a genjutsu on the boy, placing him into a deep sleep. He handed the boy to Naruko, who took him in a fire-man's lift. Jiraiya did the same with the woman. "So, what's the name, lady?"

The growled at him. "Guren. If you touch anything I swear to Kami-"

"I won't touch your arse or anything, don't you worry, Guren-chan."

* * *

They'd made their way out of the base and were sitting outside, Guren tied to a tree and the boy lying at the base of another. Jiraiya and a large number of Naruko's clones were still inside, searching while Naruko sat tending to Masamune.

"So, what's the kid's name?" Naruko asked, closely watching what she was doing.

"..."

"Can't keep calling him 'The Kid'. It's just rude, more than anything."

"..."

"What? You afraid of me or something?" she asked looking up from the sword.

"...I'd rather not get cooked inside out, thanks."

Naruko was slightly shocked to hear that. "What? How do you know about... that?"

"I read Orochimaru's file on you."

"Can't keep anything from that slimy, arsehole can ya?" Naruko asked rhetorically.

"No. Nothing." Guren said with some bitterness, starring angrily at the ground.

"Oh? That doesn't sound like the loyal servant of Orochi-teme I thought you were."

"...I suppose not."

"And why is that, hm?"

"He is... not who I thought he was."

"Ah. You realised he only cares about himself and power."

"...yes. I realised I was loyal out of... envy and fear."

"Envy? Hmm, I see."

Guren looked up from the ground and glared at her. "You see? What, you a Spirits-damned shrink now?"

Naruko just shrugged and went back to her sword. "No. But, Jiraiya has taught me more than a few things about getting into someone's head."

"You? In my head? Alright, tell me something about what's in my head then."

Naruko looked up again. "...you envy Orochi-teme's power cause you felt, maybe feel, powerless. But Orochimaru let you take care of the Kid. He values your loyalty to the point that he lets you do _some_ of what you want. Which means you either have something he can use, or something he wants. Tell me if I say something wrong."

"..."

"Right. So, what is he wants from you?"

"...Yūkimaru. His name." She nodding to the sleeping boy.

Naruko decided she'd gotten enough out of her for leverage if she needed it. She felt her clones start to pop and Jiraiya exited the base. "All good to go, gaki. Set it off whenever you're ready."

Guren looked up in alarm. "Set what off?"

Naruko just smiled and hoisted the kid up onto her shoulder again, Jiraiya did the same to Guren. Once they were far enough away Naruko made a one handed seal. The ground shook as Guren, who was seated at Jiraiya's feet, watched the cliff explode intensely.

"What the fuck!?" she yelled.

"Shock and awe, lady. That should send a message to old mate Orochimaru." Jiraiya answered.

* * *

"Inoichi eventually got through and Ibiki and Anko freaked her the hell out but we got a lot out of her." Tsunade sighed. She and Naruko were sat casually inside the Hokage's office. "Apparently, she was to be vessal for Orochimaru at some point, but it fell through."

"So, why did he want her body?" Naruko asked as she fidgeted with a Hiraishin kunai.

"She possesses a Kekkei Genkai we had no confirmation existed, only rumours and speculation. She has the Shōton ( _Crystal Release_ )."

Naruko raised her eyebrows. "Cool. So what'll happen to her now?"

"Well, Danzo will want her for breeding, the creepy bastard. Obviously, not gonna happen. At worst, if she dies somehow we'll take some DNA and eggs."

"But... Baa-chan that's just..."

"I know, Naruko. But either way, this is a Shinobi village and we have to take every opportunity we have to get stronger. She has so far cooperated, for the most part, and she came along with you and the perv willingly even if it took some encouragement."

Naruko nodded. "What about Yūkimaru?"

"Apparently, he has some sort of ability to partially control the Sanbi. Researchers are working on it. He's fully cooperated since he saw Guren alive and well, even if she is sealed and in a holding cell. He's a sweet kid."

Naruko sighed. "Alright, Baa-chan, thanks for tellin' me."

"No problem, gaki. Now, how have you gone fulfilling my other orders?"

Naruko groaned. "I'm doin' it. Fuck..."

"It's for your own good, Naruko."

"I know but... eating healthy is not worth it."

"It will be, don't you worry. Especially when you start dating someone, you'll be able to stomach the vegetables without cringing. It'll make you look better."

"What is it with you and Shizune about finding someone to date?"

Tsunade just shrugged with a smile. "We just want to make sure you'll be at the top of your game for whatever lucky girl gets ya'."

"Ugh, why've you gotta- wait. Girl? Who told- Ero-sennin." She growled.

Tsunade just laughed as she watched Naruko jump out the window in the direction of the hot springs, a hot flush of anger and embarrassment burning on her face.

* * *

 **End Part 7**


	8. Like a Rat

**Part 8**

* * *

It was about an hour to midnight as Naruko exited her bathroom. It had been about two weeks since she and Jiraiya had returned to Konoha with Guren and Yūkimaru in tow. Since then she and Jiraiya had been going over all of the information they'd taken from the old cliff side base, following up leads and 'convincing' some of Orochimaru's spies to give them some information. From that, Jiraiya found out that a significant portion of Orochimaru's spies were dedicated to attempting to track the Akastuki's movements, mostly because they still wanted Orochimaru's head on a stick, something the Hebi Sennin would like to avoid, but also because he still hoped he'd be able to snag Itachi's body somehow. It also lead to the reveal of a number of spies in Konoha and in the Hi no Kuni capital, Hi no Shuto ( _Capital City of Fire_ ).

The yearly fortnight of snow was just about finishing, and Naruko was glad for it. While she enjoyed the seasonal change, she preferred the usual warmth of Hi no Kuni to the current cold. Also, it was a bitch to walk in heels in snow and ice, something she should have considered when she decided not to bother buying any flats except for regular ninja sandals, which were cold as hell this time of year. She'd rather not have her toes freeze off after all.

She yawned as she climbed into bed, and covered herself in her lovely new thick blanket. She needed a thicker blanket because she preferred to sleep in just underwear, something that baffled Sakura since she could 'just put on some thicker clothes dammit', but whatever. She was comfortable. Settling in, she felt the bed start to warm up and her eyes drifted shut, her dreams full of ramen, Kage-hats and women.

* * *

"So what's so important that it couldn't wait til' morning?" Tsunade asked, as the pleasant buzz of alcohol was slowly diminishing to be replaced with a headache and a desire for sleep. Despite wanting to relax today, the revealed spies had required quite a bit of her attention. At least she'd likely be able to unwind tomorrow.

"I believe I can predict Akastuki's next move." Jiraiya answered. That got her attention.

"How?" she asked sitting up straight.

"Well, based on intel Naruko and I 'acquired' from Orochimaru's informants, they'll be trying to capture the Nibi next."

"The Nibi? That's dangerous, considering how powerful the Hachibi Jinchuuriki is supposed to be. Those two together would be quite a challenge."

"It would be, if they were anywhere near each other. These days, the Hachibi Jinchuuriki doesn't leave a private sanctuary of some kind, whether that's wilfully or not I'm unsure. The Nibi Jinchuuriki however, is an active jonin. Not only that, but she rarely enters Kumogakure actual, getting her missions via messengers and dead-drops and such."

Tsunade leant forward onto her desk, resting her chin in a hand. "So, she operates alone? That is very dangerous."

"I believe Kumo are underestimating the threat Akatsuki pose. The Nibi Jinchuuriki, even without her Biju, is a formidable ninja. She is also one of the few Jinchuuriki recorded to have complete control over a Biju."

"Why would they underestimate them? The Akatsuki are made up entirely of S-rank missing-nin from all over. Even if she's as good as you say, that's a hell of a threat."

"Yeah, well there are no Kumo missing-nin in Akatsuki as far as we're aware. And they've been even more isolationist of late, cutting ties with Kirigakure and some of the smaller surrounding villages. So they probably don't know anything about Akatsuki apart from the fact that they're a group of missing-nin that attacked Sunagakure, which is still considered the weakest of the Great Five. As far as I can tell, they don't seem to think the threat is legitimate, at least to them. They also seem to think a war is on the horizon. They've been building up defences for a while now."

"Yes I know. Well I don't blame them. S-ranked missing-nin running loose, Orochimaru running his own damn village and the skirmishes between smaller villages. Great Wars have been started for less."

Jiraiya nodded solemnly. "Well regardless, we can't let Akatsuki get at the Nibi. Kumo likely believes this 'Nii Yugito' is up to the task of defending herself. The incident in Suna says otherwise, not that Kumo would likely care."

"So you want to try and pre-emptively defend the Nibi Jinchuuriki? That could go very wrong, very quickly. That could easily lead to war, Jiraiya." Tsunade warned.

"I know, Hime. But I'd rather start a war with Kumo than let Akatsuki have any more Biju. There's too many unknowns. Too much risk. That said, I'm not going to just let a war start. Regardless, I think this needs to be done."

Tsunade waved her hand at him. "Yeah, alright, fine. What do you need from me?"

"I'd like to take a small team with me. Including Naruko."

Tsunade smirked at him. "What, afraid to fight them alone? Is your age catching up to you, old man?"

Jiraiya just smiled indulgently and shook his head. "No, I'm as good as ever, Hime. Just wanna ensure success." He got a bit more serious. "This is too important."

Sensing the mood change, Tsunade sighed. "Fine. Who do you want?"

* * *

Naruko grumbled as she stumbled around her room, gathering up her gear. She'd only had about five and a half hours sleep before Jiraiya had come and woke her up, telling her that they had a mission. Sliding her pants up underneath her dress she had her clones haul other stuff out like spare clothes and weapons and store them away. She slipped on her boots and strapped Masamune onto her back, her weapons pouch on her side and finally her scroll at the base of her back. Looking in the mirror she was irritated to find herself in a bit of a mess, something that she wouldn't have been bothered by a few years ago.

She kind of missed not caring, back when being the best ninja ever and becoming Hokage was all that mattered. But she'd grown older, realised there was more to life and, more specifically, realised her sexual orientation. While by no means rare, homosexuality wasn't hugely common in shinobi villages, if for no other reason than they're near constant need to re-populate after wars and such. But there were a fair few people she knew that were gay or bi as well; Sakura was a lesbian and Ino was bisexual for example. She also knew Iruka was bi but he wasn't really one to date. Anyway, once she started to become attracted to women she started to care about her appearance. Kind of a bitch when she got hit on by guys but anyone that didn't know the meaning of 'no' could easily be taught a swift lesson. There was one guy from Mizu no Kuni she remembered quite well since she had burnt the word 'NO' into his arm with katon chakra.

Realising she'd gotten side-tracked she quickly fixed her hair the only way she knew how, with a quick Ranjishigami no jutsu, as well as quickly applying her makeup. While doing so she noticed how chipped her black nail polish was and sighed. She didn't have time to fix it at the moment, especially since ninja-grade polish (which was hard as hell to come by) took _ages_ to dry.

"Bloody hell, gaki, I know you wanna look good and all but we're on a tight schedule here." Jiraiya said with some irritation.

"Yeah, whatever, you wake me up in the middle of the night, you can wait. You might be a hermit, but I'd like to make myself presentable."

"Uh huh. Come on." Jiraiya jumped out of the window and headed for the gate.

Naruko sighed and made a clone to lock the window behind her and put the security seals up as she followed Jiraiya.

Coming up to the gate, she saw some others waiting for them. Sakura was standing by the gate casually admiring the sunrise. Next to her, Shikamaru was lying on the ground apparently asleep. Lastly sitting on a box of some kind was Inuzuka Hana, her three dogs sitting dutifully at her feet. Eventually, Naruko had managed to get Shikamaru up by threatening to beat him black and blue with a sheathed Masamune.

After walking down the road for a couple hours, heading east, Sakura asked. "Sorry, Jiraiya-sama but what is the mission?"

Jiraiya looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. "What, Tsunade didn't tell you?"

Sakura, Hana and Shikamaru shook their heads and Naruko realised she hadn't been told either. "Some ANBU came by and told us to get geared up and head to the main gate. That's it." Hana said.

Jiraiya sighed. "Alright, so basically we're going to try and find the Nibi Jinchuuriki and stop her from getting captured by the Akatsuki. Hana and her dogs will try to track her down as she is somewhat nomadic, Sakura's our combat medic of course and Shikamaru's Kage Jutsu should help us to slow down any Akatsuki members and, if need be, capture the Nibi Jinchuuriki ourselves."

Naruko looked at Jiraiya in shock. "Capture the Nibi Jinchuuriki? We tryin' to start a war, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya just shrugged. "If it comes to that, it comes to that. Frankly, keeping the Biju out of Akatsuki hands is more important than stopping a war." The three younger shinobi were rather subdued for a while after that.

* * *

"You think you've got me trapped." Yugito smirked viciously. "But it's you whose trapped. Like the rats you are!"

A number of explosions went off, causing all of the tunnels in the sewer system to be blocked by debris.

"Eh? Seems we're trapped, Kakuzu." the silver haired one said.

"Doesn't matter, Hiden. It's better this way, actually." Kakuzu said dismissively.

"I swear I'll kill you, Akatsuki." Yugito promised.

"Say what? You? Kill me? Dammit, I hate it when people talk to me like that. And I can't even kill you. So how about you just come along quietly and I can get back to serving Jashin-sama properly?" Hiden asked with a smirk.

The two Akatsuki-nin watched as the Nibi Jinchuuriki crouched down and snarled. Exploding in blue flame, she literally turned into Matatabi, the Nibi.

Kakuzu glared at his partner.

* * *

"Alright, my contacts say this is her last known position." Jiraiya said. After four days of walking, they were just inside Kaminari no Kuni. The only thing in the area was a large building that looked like it was once a factory of some sort.

"Well, there is a female scent. Smells vaguely like cat." Hana said, sniffing the air along with the triplets. "Quite recent, maybe here... yesterday, two days ago. Wait..." she said smelling in the direction the wind was coming from. "I've got three other scents coming from the south-east. Human, one male, two female."

Just as she finished saying that, a massive explosion went off underneath the building, bricks and glass flying in every direction. The debris would've smashed into them if not for a timely Doton: Tajū Doryūheki from Jiraiya.

"Into that hole, I wanna know what's going on down there! Move!" Jiraiya ordered.

They quickly complied, jumping down into the hole, into a wide debris filled sewer of some kind, though the water was thankfully quite clean. They found two Akatsuki members standing in front of a young blonde-haired woman essentially nailed to a wall via a number of kunai, presumably she was the Nibi Jinchuuriki.

"Dammit! You arseholes are ruining my ritual!" one the Akatsuki yelled. He had silver hair and was wearing his cloak open to reveal his bare chest. In his hand he held a massive red, triple-bladed scythe. Around his neck was a Hitai-ate they didn't recognise.

"And thank fuck for it." the other said. His head and body was entirely covered except for his eyes, which were a pale, pupil less green. He had a cut Takigakure Hitai-ate on his forehead.

Jiraiya then followed them down into the hole, landing between them and the Akatsuki-nin. He looked over them, not recognising the scythe-wielding ninja but shock was clear on his face when he saw the other.

"Ah, so Sannin no Jiraiya recognises me, eh? Well, I suppose I should be flattered, but I'd rather have your bounty, Gama-Sennin." the green eyed one said.

"You can try. First, how aren't you dead?" Jiraiya asked back.

The man casually shrugged. "Came close to dying a couple times. Didn't take."

"Ero-sennin, who is he?" Naruko asked quietly.

"Kakuzu. He was a ninja from Takigakure when it was built. He's one of the few people that lived after fighting the Shodai Hokage." He answered not taking his eyes off of the two Akatsuki-nin. "The other, I don't recognise. Sakura, Hana, once we engage, go secure the girl. I'll take Kakuzu. Shikamaru, Naruko take the unknown. Be very careful you two." Jiraiya ordered gravely.

"Oh for- enough, dammit! Let's fight!" the Scythe-nin shouted, launching himself at them.

They swiftly jumped back to avoid it, Naruko throwing down a smoke bomb to let Hana and Sakura get away.

"The fuck!?" Scythe (as Naruko resigned to calling him) yelled.

The smoke cleared and they could see a shadow from Shikamaru holding him in place. "Katon: Enden!" both Jiraiya and Naruko shouted. In a split second, Scythe was covered in a large amount of oil and set alight, essentially exploding where he stood.

"That was too easy..." Naruko muttered, watching black smoke rise into the air. She silently drew Masamune.

Suddenly, Scythe came soaring out the smoke straight at Shikamaru. It was so sudden that he didn't have time to dodge.

"Ngh!" he grunted, as the longest blade stabbed into his shoulder. It would have been deeper had Naruko not managed to block the scythe with Masamune.

"Argh!" Naruko growled as she put all her strength into pushing back, the blade pulling out of Shikamaru shoulder, causing him to grunt again in pain, and made the scythe to go flying out of Scythe's hands. As Scythe recovered from stopping himself from falling over, Naruko smashed her leg into him, making him fly back at Kakuzu who had been sitting casually watching the entire exchange.

He looked irritatedly at his partner. "You done fucking around, Hiden?"

The newly named Hiden sat up as if getting kicked ten metres into a massive stone hadn't hurt at all. "Fuck you, Kakuzu. Let's just fucking kill them, so I can finally make a sacrifice."

The Konoha-nin watched them with some disbelief. "Come on guys. We gotta keep them busy." Jiraiya said.

* * *

"Hana, watch for incoming. I'll get her down." Sakura quickly set about taking the woman down from the wall. She looked to be in her early twenties, but her face was swollen and bloodied.

"Got it." Hana watched as the other three slowly led the Akatsuki-nin further away.

"Get away from her!"

Hana dropped into the Inuzuka taijutsu stance and the triplets bared their teeth as Sakura turned to see a red-headed woman with dark skin in standard-Kumo gear land front of Hana, followed by a tall blonde haired woman and dark skinned man with grey-ish white hair.

Each had a different type of blade drawn, the red-head had a katana, the man had some sort of cleaver-sword and the blonde had a tanto. "You will step away from Yugito-san immediately." the blonde said in a monotone. Her face was expressionless but they had the distinct feeling that she was very annoyed.

"I'm trying to heal her." Sakura said.

Whatever the blonde woman was about to respond with was drowned out when there was an explosion on the other side of the rubble, where they could no longer see the fight. There was a second explosion and Naruko came flailing through the air toward them. She landed roughly on a rock and groaned.

"Naruko! You alright?" Hana asked crouching down next to her.

"Ugh... yeah. Fuckin' arsehole's just won't die." She sat up and picked up Masamune which had landed next to her. She opened her eyes and saw the Kumo-nin. "Hey, fuckheads, we're tryin' to save this Yugito chick. You wanna help or you just gonna stand around and let us do all the work?"

"Looks like you need the help." the redhead said with a smirk.

"Well duh. S-rank ninja mean anything to you?"

"Naruko! Get the fuck back over here! I know your stubborn arse ain't dead!" Jiraiya's voice echoed.

Naruko sent another look at the Kumo-trio and stood up, heading back to the fight.

"We should help, Samui." the man said to the blonde.

Samui sighed and nodded. "Seriously not cool. Karui, stay here and guard Yugito. Omoi, with me."

With that Samui and the man, Omoi, headed over the rubble toward the sound of clanging metal and the occasional explosion.

* * *

Hiden cackled as he swung savagely at Naruko who was dodging and deflecting the scythe, desperately trying to not get skewered. It was such an odd weapon that she was having trouble finding a window to attack, even though his style was wild and uncoordinated.

Kakuzu was a complete contrast to Hiden, fighting tactically and using different elemental ninjutsu from all five basic elements with mastery and precision. Only Jiraiya's skill and years of experience kept him from being roasted, crushed or stabbed.

Naruko finally got her window when Shikamaru managed to throw a fūma shuriken at Hiden, working through the pain in shoulder to do so. He'd been throwing normal shuriken and kunai with his uninjured arm but whatever hit Hiden didn't seem to faze him at all. He'd even pulled a kunai out of his stomach and tried to stab Naruko with it when they'd locked weapons. Seeing the massive shuriken spiralling toward his head, he was forced to block it with his scythe. Naruko took the opportunity and, not wanting to waste the chance at all, covered Masamune in futon chakra. She savagely but precisely stabbed Masamune in between Hiden's ribs and into his heart. She smirked and twisted the blade inside of him and tore it through his chest and out the other side.

He fell to the ground and lay still, his blood spreading across the ground beneath him. At that moment, Samui and Omoi ran past them, heading over to help Jiraiya.

"Get the fuck up, Hiden!" Kakuzu called in between blows to and from Jiraiya and the Kumo-nin.

To their surprise, Hiden opened his eyes and growled in annoyance, pulling his mostly detached lower body toward his upper body, his skin and bone knitting back together. Using their shock to his advantage, Hiden swung and Shikamaru again. This time, Shikamaru reacted in time to dodge but wasn't fast enough, the blades slashing deep into his chest.

He fell over onto the ground, bleeding heavily.

"Fucking shit!" Naruko yelled in dismay. She made a large number of clones who basically dog piled onto Hided after each placing an exploding tag onto themselves. Naruko sheathed Masamune and picked up Shikamaru and jumped over the rubble toward Sakura and Hana. "Sakura!" she called landing beside them.

Sakura looked up and her eyes widened. "Fuck! Hana, I've stabilised her, double check for me. Naruko, place him here." Sakura ordered. An explosion rocked the tunnel as Naruko put Shikamaru on the ground.

"How is she?" Naruko asked nodding to Yugito.

"Physically, fine. Mentally, don't know. Injected her with knock out serum. Keep those two stalled another couple minutes then we gotta go, Naruko. I can't heal Shikamaru properly here and this place is about to collapse." Sakura answered, furiously pumping healing chakra into the gashes on Shikamaru's chest.

"You got it. I gotta go back. Stay safe, guys." Naruko said re-drawing Masamune.

* * *

"You fucking whore! That fucking hurt!" Hiden screamed as he reattached his right arm.

"What the fuck are you?" Naruko asked.

Hiden stood and smirked. "Just a faithful servant of God."

Naruko barely dodged underneath the scythe as they reengaged in a ferocious blade fight.

* * *

Jiraiya's earth wall only just blocked the explosion from Kakuzu's Katon mask. "Oi! You two! Get back over to the others, this place is about to come down!" he yelled at Omoi and Samui.

Despite being from another village, they both followed his order and retreated.

Suddenly going on the offensive, Jiraiya managed to capitalise on Kakuzu's split-second surprise. "Doton: Yomi Numa!" ( _Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld_ ). The swamp that abruptly appeared in the middle of the sewer only just caught Kakuzu, trapping him in it.

He sprinted across the massive room, jumping and kicking an unsuspecting Hiden in the back of the head as he and Naruko locked blades. Hiden smashed into the ground and Jiraiya landed in front of his student. "Set up tags to bury this place. We are leaving!"

There were still too many unknowns in this fight. He'd seen Kakuzu take hits that should have killed him half a dozen times. Kakuzu was similar, although he seemed more interested in self preservation, especially of his masks. But he saw Shikamaru get hit, so now Sakura would be exhausted from healing both him and Yugito who had been half dead, and the team of Kumo-nin was too much of a liability since he knew nothing about them. Naruko was also hurt, a number of slashes across her body and her clothes were in tatters, the skirt to her dress was completely gone, essentially making it a just a top. Similarly, her jacket seemed to have disappeared as well.

Too many risks to keep the fight going. At this point, if it were just him and Naruko they could probably come out on top. But with the amount of unknowns and their primary objective secured, they had to move.

Naruko nodded and made a number of clones. They each spread out across the tunnel, placing tags onto load-bearing columns and the ceiling. She dodged under a swing from the scythe and sent a Shakuton-chakra enhanced kick at Hiden's chest, her foot melting halfway into his chest and causing him to go flying as he screamed in pain. He might be able to regenerate ridiculously fast, but having your chest melted would fucking hurt. He flew to the other side of the room and she left a clone as she ran who yelled: "Shakuton: Shūkai suru taiyō!" ( _Scorch Release: Orbiting Suns!_ ). She didn't stick around to see what happened but she did feel the earth under her vibrate.

"Let's go, let's go!" Jiraiya ordered, an unconscious Shikamaru and an exhausted Sakura slung onto each of his shoulders. Karui had picked up Yugito and Hana was already leading her nin-dogs out to the surface.

Naruko was the last one out, as Hiden's scythe just barely missed cutting her foot off and she sent a feral kick back at him, yelling "Just fucking die you sick freak!" The heel of her boot smashed painfully into his face, likely breaking his nose and sending him spiralling back into the tunnel. "Get down!" she yelled, setting off the tags. A huge explosion rocked the earth massive pieces of debris when flying overhead, missing them by just centimetres not a moment after they'd hit the ground.

"Fuck me..."

* * *

They'd ran for hours, until even Naruko was tired and the others were utterly exhausted. They'd agreed to head north into Tetsu no Kuni, after the Kumo-nin had refused to go into Hi no Kuni after they'd agreed that if the two Akatsuki-nin survived, which they thought likely considering the fight, they would expect them to head for Kumogakure. They'd found a mountain and Jiraiya created a cave a the base of it and covered up the entrance with rocks making it look like a cave-in, but with enough space that air could come in and the smoke from their small fire could go out.

"Naruko, you aren't about to keel over from exhaustion, you're on watch." Jiraiya ordered, and was asleep not a minute later.

"I had a soldier pill not long ago. I shall also take first watch." Samui stated. All of the others were asleep within a minute.

Naruko sat on one side of the cave by the entrance and Samui sat on the other. Naruko had leant her a spare pair of her pants as Samui had been shivering heavily wearing her short skirt. Naruko created a small ball of condensed Shakuton chakra and had it float between them, keeping the cold at bay. The entrance to the cave was quite small, only a couple of metres so the two weren't far apart. Jiraiya had made the entrance a couple metres long and open into the cave with just enough space for them all to be comfortable and for a fire.

Naruko was tending to Masamune when Samui managed to push past her slight social discomfort and said. "Thank you."

Naruko stopped and looked up at her. If the circumstances were different she'd be having a hard time keeping eye contact with the blonde Kumo-nin. "Uh... your welcome?"

"For the pants. And for saving Yugito." Samui clarified. "That was pretty cool."

"Oh. Of course. Couldn't just give 'er to Akatsuki. Can't have a pretty lady freezing to death either, eh?" Naruko responded with a friendly grin as she went back to Masamune, not seeing the _very_ faint blush on Samui's face.

Samui just looked to the cave entrance and wondered how things could get any weirder than sitting in a cave with a flirty Konoha-kunoichi and Sannin no Jiraiya.


	9. Another Captured

**Part 9**

* * *

Naruko crouched perfectly still in a tree, hidden among the snow covered leaves as she watched him approach. He stopped just under her, surveying the area. As he bent down to eat something she dropped from the tree onto his back, her kunai slitting his throat.

The large stag fell to the ground with a dull thud sending snowflakes up into the air. As his blood spilt out onto the snow she made a clone, both Narukos grabbed an antler and began dragging him back to the cave. She made another clone to stay and cover their tracks.

It took them about half an hour to get back to the cave, but they'd been lucky as the hole in the rock face came into view just as sun started to set and snow started to fall. She dragged the stag to the edge of the cave and whistled. Omoi, the male Kumo-nin walked out and nodded to her as they set about skinning the stag. Once they were done, the sun had disappeared and the moon was appearing in occasional gaps in the clouds overhead.

They'd been hiding in the cave for a day having arrived the night before, Sakura was still recovering from chakra exhaustion and Hana and the Kumo-nin were also recovering from physical exhaustion, as Samui had crashed really hard after the soldier pill had worn off. Omoi had been the only one recovered enough to leave the cave other than Naruko. Even her legendary stamina had been tested on the run from Kaminari to Tetsu. Shikamaru was still resting after his wounds had been mostly healed. Yugito was still out cold, the knockout injection Sakura had given her was supposed to last three days for a normal person but with a Jinchuuriki one could never be sure.

Naruko, since she was the least exhausted, had spent the majority of her time on watch or setting up traps in the surrounding forest.

Omoi took what meat they'd gotten from the stag back into the cave and she created two clones to take what remained back into the forest. The last thing they needed was a pack of wolves outside of the cave, if only because they would draw attention.

Walking back into the cave she saw most of the team sitting around the fire. Shikamaru was leaning on a wall, the Kumo-nin also sat near the fire, Karui and Omoi seemed to be arguing over something and Hana was preparing the meat. Naruko took her normal spot at the entrance to the cave and created a small ball of Shakuton chakra in her hand. Not only did it keep her warm but experimenting with the chakra movement and intensity of the heat was not only good for her chakra control but it was a great exercise in understanding the Shakuton. She somewhat unfortunately was not usually able to use the Shakuton simply because it was very dangerous to use around teammates. One wrong move from either her or them and suddenly she had mummified teammates.

As she concentrated on the blazing sphere in her hand, unnoticed to her the leader of the Kumo-nin was subtly watching her from the other side of the cave.

Samui was somewhat perplexed by the Konoha-kunoichi. She was upbeat and joked around, and was often a teasing flirt. Naruko was the complete opposite to her and yet she was a very powerful kunoichi, taking on an Akatsuki-nin by herself after her teammate had been seriously injured. Samui had grown up being told by her parents that being a shinobi was a dangerous lifestyle, and that being utterly professional and serious in her pursuit of climbing the ranks and becoming a stronger kunoichi meant that she had no time for screwing around. Training and study was what she remembered of her childhood. The only friends she'd had time for were those who wanted to train and study like her. Not many of those around at that time, most of the children would prefer to be playing or just hanging around with their friends, even her brother had preferred to do that. Occasionally Yugito had joined her, the Nibi Jinchuuriki was only a year or so older than her and she took being a kunoichi just as seriously as Samui did. However, Yugito's Jinchuuriki status meant that she was often taken away for specialised training. Although, Samui had been taken to be taught by her grandfather sometimes as well.

As the ball glowed in front of Naruko's face, illuminating her strong jaw line and bright blue eyes, Samui wondered, perhaps for the first time, if her parents had been wrong.

* * *

Naruko added enough chakra to make the ball sustain itself for a while, lowering her hand the feel the hilt of Masamune. She'd pondered on how to go about using the nodachi along with her ninjutsu for some time, and may have finally found a solution. She'd once again tattooed a storage seal onto herself, this time into her right palm, meaning she could store the sword inside of her hand at a moment's notice. While it would make sense for her to keep the sword in there at all times, the sheath of the sword was just as important as the sword itself. The inside of the sheath was covered in various seals, all of which repaired the sword to perfect, if a tiny bit blunt, condition when it was inside for a few hours. She wondered how much damage could be done to the blade before the seals would stop working but she wasn't keen to experiment on it.

The simple idea of storage the sword would help her to swiftly switch between fighting styles, something that had become somewhat of a handicap due to how fast Shinobi fights were fought. The general speed at which shinobi fought meant that attempting to sheath the sword to use a jutsu was a very dangerous undertaking. Every millisecond mattered in a shinobi fight.

She looked up from her sword as Samui sat across from her, her own sword, a tanto, resting in her lap. Naruko expected her to say something, but the stoic Kumo-nin was silent as she fiddled with her own blade.

"So" Naruko started making Samui look up at her "a tanto eh?" mentally, Naruko was face palming. She was social person by nature but sometimes she got tongue-tied, especially when talking to an attractive and woman, and particularly when she didn't know much about said woman.

Samui didn't seem fazed by it though. "Yes. All Kumo-nin are required to learn kenjutsu to a satisfactory degree before Academy graduation. The tanto works best with my fighting style, fast and precise."

"I'd expect that requirement of Kiri more than Kumo, though I guess I don't know a whole lot about Kumo anyway."

Samui nodded. "Kumogakure was co-founded by a travelling group of Rōnin, who made the Shodai Raikage their Master. They instilled many of their ideals in the first shinobi of Kumo, many of which are still present today."

"Cool." Naruko said, appreciatively, missing Samui's blank expression after she'd said it. "Kenjutsu is kinda rare in Konoha, its mostly only ANBU that use it. Though there are others like myself that still use it."

"Who taught you? To use kenjutsu."

Naruko nodded to the far side of the cave where she could see Jiraiya writing in a notebook. "A kunoichi named Yugao has been teaching me a bit lately, but Jiraiya originally."

Samui looked over to him as well before turning back. "I've never heard of him using kenjutsu."

Naruko chuckled. "He doesn't. Not really. But you know, he's been around since the Second Great Ninja War. Back then, the Konoha Academy was more interesting in teaching shinobi how to fight with all styles of jutsu."

Samui looked at her confused. "Do they not now?"

Naruko slowly shook her head. "Not really. At least not for my class, it was full of clan heirs and that, so it was a lot of history and politics since most of them were already being taught at home."

"It's not cool, but I suppose that makes sense."

"So who taught you?"

Samui's eyebrow raised a tiny bit. "Kenjutsu?"

"Yeah."

Samui looked back down at her tanto. "My grandfather, when I was a child. His name was Genji. He was the last of the Kumogakure Samurai. He was renowned for his skills with wakazashi and nodachi."

"Woah, that's awesome!" Naruko replied in wonder, looking down at her own family nodachi.

"Yeah." Samui smiled slightly. "It was pretty cool."

"Ugh..." all sound in the cave ceased as they looked over to Yugito, who was lying a couple of metres away from the fire. She slowly sat up, placing a hand on her forehead.

"Lay back for a moment please. I need to make sure-" Sakura was forced to stop speaking as Yugito's hand clutched at her throat.

"Let go." Jiraiya ordered, standing over her with a Rasengan in hand.

The moment she saw Sannin no Jiraiya standing over her, she let go and laid back. Sakura coughed for a moment, rubbing her neck before she began examining Yugito as if nothing had happened.

Karui and Omoi began to move over to Yugito but Samui, who was doing the same, waved them away. She knew that medics hated people crowding around them.

"Samui?" Yugito said, surprised.

"Yes. These Konoha-nin assisted in saving you from the Akatsuki." Samui answered.

Yugito looked down in shame and anger. She was a Kumogakure Elite Jonin and the Nibi Jinchuuriki and she lost to an idiot with a scythe and a Taki-nin.

"Don't beat yourself up kid." Jiraiya said, sitting down on a rock beside Sakura who was still examining Yugito's internals. " Even I had a tough time against just one of them, and no offence but I think I'm a bit better at this than you. Besides, you're alive, that's all that matters."

"I swore I'd kill them. I failed." Yugito stated.

Jiraiya just shrugged. "So? I doubt they're dead, you might get a chance again. Though, I'd recommend back-up next time."

Yugito looked up at him. "Why did you help me? You could easily start a war by doing this."

"Yeah, I know kid. But keeping the Biju away from the Akatsuki is more important." Jiraiya responded solemnly.

All four Kumo-nin looked at him in shock. "They want the Biju? Is that why they attacked Sunagakure?"

"Yeah. They've captured the Ichibi. They're trying to go in order, from one to nine and since they've got a number of teams, it's likely they've already deployed others to capture the other Biju. Although, the duo that captured the Ichibi is now dead, so that should slow them down a bit. Hopefully."

"How do we proceed from here?" Samui asked. Now that Yugito was awake, they'd need to plan their next move. It was likely that Akatsuki was still trying to find them and it would only be a matter of time.

"I've thought about that. We'll head to the south-western border between Tetsu no Kuni and Taki no Kuni. From there a toad will take Sakura, Hana and Shikamaru to Takigakure who are allied with Konoha." He looked at Sakura and Hana. "There you will either get assistance for Shikamaru and an escort back to Konoha, or just the escort back to Konoha if Shikamaru will be okay for that long. After you three head off, Naruko and I will head to Kumogakure with you four." he finished nodding to Samui.

The Kumo-nin looked at him as if he were a madman. "You want... want us to take you to Kumo?" Karui asked from behind him.

"Oh that's gonna go bad." Omoi started. "What if we get there and they attack us? What if-" he was cut off from his rant when Karui smacked him over the head.

"He is not wrong. This could go any number of ways, Kumo-nin attacking us would be a likely scenario." Samui stated, some worry sneaking into her voice.

Jiraiya smirked. "Don't worry about it. They won't attack. Not with one of their Jinchuuriki and the students of their other Jinchuuriki. Not to mention they'd know full well attacking me would mean a lot of dead shinobi, one way or another."

"Hey! What am I, chopped liver?" Naruko asked, annoyed she wasn't even thought of.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "No one know who you are, gaki."

"Oh right."

"Ok, that's the plan. We'll move out tomorrow. Get some rest everyone. You'll need it."

* * *

It had taken only a few hours the reach the border, Tetsu no Kuni was small if travelling east-to-west. When they reached the border, they decided to rest for an hour before parting ways. During that hour, they were surrounded suddenly by Taki-nin.

"What are you doing in Taki no Kuni?"

Jiraiya sighed as he stood up from the ground. "Right to the point eh?" he muttered. "I am Sannin no Jiraiya!" he called out to them. "We have a wounded Konoha-nin and are escorting a number of Kumogakure-shinobi."

Some of the Taki-nin looked at each other, surprised. The leader decided to jump down from the tree he was perched on and walked over to Jiraiya. "Taki is currently on high alert, Jiraiya-sama. Our Jinchuuriki went missing yesterday." he said so only Jiraiya could hear him.

"Shit. Fuck, okay, are you _sure_?" Jiraiya asked quietly.

The Taki-jonin nodded. "She is supposed to check in once every day. She missed the deadline yesterday and today."

"Why are you sure she was abducted?"

"The private area she lives in outside of the village was destroyed. We also found her blood on the ground, though not enough to kill her. We've assumed it was those Akatsuki guys Konoha told us about."

"Alright, shit. Tell me all of the details. I also need an escort for three of my shinobi back to Konoha. Can that be arranged?"

"Of course, Jiraiya-sama."

* * *

"Well, shit." Jiraiya said, surveying what looked like had once been a peaceful clearing. Now it was covered in scorch marks and destroyed earth. He turned to his companions, now just Naruko and the Kumo-nin. "Alright, here's the deal. We saved Yugito because we cannot allow the Akatsuki to capture more Biju."

"You want us to help you recover the Nanabi Jinchuuriki." Yugito stated.

"Yes."

The Kumo-nin all looked at each other, almost having a silent conversation. Omoi and Samui both seemed to have reservations while Yugito and Karui wanted to go. Eventually, Yugito won them over. "Yes. We will help." She swore she'd kill those Akatsuki-nin. Even if they were different ninja, they were Akatsuki and that'd be close enough.

Samui, revealing that she was actually a Sensory-nin was able to track them by following the faint trail of Biju-chakra left behind by the Nanabi Jinchuuriki, a teenager named Fu. They headed out, heading south/south-west.

* * *

Kisame and Itachi had stopped to rest for a moment when Itachi stated. "We are being followed, Kisame."

The shark-like man looked over to his partner and smirked. "Are we now? I didn't think that those Taki-nin would have the balls for it."

Itachi shook his head. "It is not Taki-nin."

"Who then?"

"I see the Kyuubi and Nibi."

"Konoha and Kumo? The fuck? Weren't the Zombies supposed to be capturing the Nibi right now?"

"Yes."

"Well, why don't we do their job for them then?"

"Sannin no Jiraiya is also with them."

"Ah. That does make things more difficult."

"There are others I do not recognise, also. This could be a problem."

"How far are they?"

"Close enough that we will not make it back to Ame."

"We wait, then?"

Itachi nodded.

* * *

"They have stopped." Samui stated.

"Alright, they know we're here. No fucking around people. Yugito, you and I will take one of them, Naruko and you three will take the other. Clear?"

A chorus of 'yeses' met him and he nodded.

They stopped in a forest clearing to see Itachi and Kisame standing in front of and battered green-haired girl, who was lying on the ground behind them.

"You the real ones this time?" Naruko asked.

"Yes. I was impressed by your defeat of the fake. However, you will not win here." Itachi answered.

Naruko, however, was not in the mood for conversation. She created a large number of Kage Bunshin, sending them charging at the two Akatsuki-nin. Deciding on her target, the real Naruko made her way towards Kisame. While she wanted to fight Itachi she knew her lack of genjutsu talent would be a weakness against him, while her Shakuton and the Kumo-nin's raiton skills would do well against Kisame's suiton abilities.

Kisame swung at her but she quickly slid underneath the wrapped sword, placing and exploding tag under her as she did so. The ground shook and smoke and dust obscured Kisame from their view. Once it cleared, they saw him standing as though nothing had happened, a smirk on his lips showing off his sharp teeth.


	10. I'm Alive!

Hello lads, lasses and everyone in between. I'm alive! However Shakuton no Naruko will be put on hold and rewritten as I feel certain aspects like my planned NarukoxSamui ship felt forced and the fic itself feels a bit rushed to me. On top of that I felt like I was trying to do too many things at once and not paying some things the attention they needed. For now I'll be moving on to other ideas but I hope to return to this fic soon. Thanks for the follows, favourites and feedback you guys are awesome.


	11. I'm still alive!

Hey guys,

So I haven't forgotten this story, I've done a few different draft re-write, some of which are fairly long, but which I use depends on what you guys would like to see.

There are two main ones I'm considering; one starts when Naruko graduates from the Academy and follows her career from the start (the bonus here is that there is more of Naruko working to earn her power and the fic will be longer and more detailed [at least I hope])  
The second will begin during Naruko's training trip and will follow her an Jiraiya for a while, instead of just skipping to the start of Shippuden.

Let me know which you'd prefer, and I'll get writing!


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